Indian oil , L &T renew partnership for green hydrogen

 

Indian oil L &T renew partnership for green hydrogen

What is the news :

• To enable decarbonization push, Indian Oil Corporation Ltd, Larsen & Toubro (L&T), ReNew Power announced signing of a binding term sheet for the formation of a Joint Venture (JV) company to develop the nascent green hydrogen sector in India.
• Additionally, IndianOil and L&T have signed a binding term sheet to form a JV with equity participation to manufacture and sell Electrolyzers used in the production of Green Hydrogen.

About the Partnership :

• The IndianOil-L&T-ReNew JV will focus on developing Green Hydrogen projects in a time-bound manner to supply Green Hydrogen at an industrial scale.
• The JV will help to bring together the strong credentials of L&T in designing, executing, and delivering EPC projects, IndianOil’s established expertise in petroleum refining along with its presence across the energy spectrum, and the expertise of ReNew in offering and developing utility-scale renewable energy solutions.
• Being the Energy of India, we are committed to powering India’s drive towards carbon neutrality by leveraging the power of green hydrogen. Indian Oil is forging this alliance to realise India’s green hydrogen aspirations, which is in sync with the Honble Prime Minister’s vision of making India a Green Hydrogen generation and export hub,” said Shrikant Madhav Vaidya, Chairman of IndianOil.
• The partnership will focus on green hydrogen projects at Mathura and Panipat refineries. While the usage of hydrogen in the mobility sector will take its due time, however the refineries will be the pivot around which India’s green hydrogen revolution will materialise in a substantial way.

What is green hydrogen :

• Green hydrogen is hydrogen generated entirely by renewable energy or from low-carbon power.
• Green hydrogen has significantly lower carbon emissions than grey hydrogen, which is produced by steam reforming of natural gas, which makes up the bulk of the hydrogen market.
• Green hydrogen produced by the electrolysis of water is less than 0.1% of total hydrogen production.
• It may be used to decarbonize sectors which are hard to electrify, such as steel and cement production, and thus help to limit climate change.
• The high cost of production is the main factor behind the low use of green hydrogen.
• Nonetheless, the hydrogen market is expected to grow, with some forecasts of the cost of hydrogen production falling from $6/kg in 2015 to around $2/kg by 2025.

Green hydrogen’s  Uses :

Transportation

• Hydrogen can be used as a hydrogen fuel for fuel cells or internal combustion engines. Hydrogen vehicles are not limited to automobiles, with trucks also being designed to run on green hydrogen

Heating

• Hydrogen can be used for cooking and heating within homes.

Natural gas industry

• Natural gas infrastructure could possibly become a roadblock if countries intend to become carbon neutral. As a result many countries are considering using the current gas infrastructure to transport hydrogen.[

Green Ammonia Production

• Green hydrogen can be used to produce green ammonia, the main constituent of fertilizer production.
• It is suggested that green ammonia will be cost competitive with ammonia produced conventionally (gray ammonia) by 2030.

Recent news about green hydrogen :

Ministry of Power notifies Green Hydrogen/ Green Ammonia Policy

Why in the news:

• Hydrogen and Ammonia are envisaged to be the future fuels to replace fossil fuels. Production of these fuels by using power from renewable energy, termed as green hydrogen and green ammonia, is one of the major requirements towards environmentally sustainable energy security of the nation.
• Government of India is taking various measures to facilitate the transition from fossil fuel / fossil fuel based feed stocks to green hydrogen / green ammonia. The notification of this policy is one of the major steps in this endeavour.
• Prime Minister launched the National Hydrogen Mission on India’s 75^th Independence Day (i.e. 15^thAugust, 2021).
• The Mission aims to aid the government in meeting its climate targets and making India a green hydrogen hub.
• This will help in meeting the target of production of 5 million tonnes of Green hydrogen by 2030 and the related development of renewable energy capacity.

 The policy provides as follows :

• Green Hydrogen / Ammonia manufacturers may purchase renewable power from the power exchange or set up renewable energy capacity themselves or through any other, developer, anywhere.
• Open access will be granted within 15 days of receipt of application.
• The Green Hydrogen / Ammonia manufacturer can bank his unconsumed renewable power, up to 30 days, with distribution company and take it back when required.
• Distribution licensees can also procure and supply Renewable Energy to the manufacturers of Green Hydrogen / Green Ammonia in their States at concessional prices which will only include the cost of procurement, wheeling charges and a small margin as determined by the State Commission.
• Waiver of inter-state transmission charges for a period of 25 years will be allowed to the manufacturers of Green Hydrogen and Green Ammonia for the projects commissioned before 30th June 2025.
• The manufacturers of Green Hydrogen / Ammonia and the renewable energy plant shall be given connectivity to the grid on priority basis to avoid any procedural delays.
• The benefit of Renewable Purchase Obligation (RPO) will be granted incentive to the hydrogen/Ammonia manufacturer and the Distribution licensee for consumption of renewable power.
• To ensure ease of doing business a single portal for carrying out all the activities including statutory clearances in a time bound manner will be set up by MNRE.
• Connectivity, at the generation end and the Green Hydrogen / Green Ammonia manufacturing end, to the ISTS for Renewable Energy capacity set up for the purpose of manufacturing Green Hydrogen / Green Ammonia shall be granted on priority.
• Manufacturers of Green Hydrogen / Green Ammonia shall be allowed to set up bunkers near Ports for storage of Green Ammonia for export / use by shipping. The land for the storage for this purpose shall be provided by the respective Port Authorities at applicable charges.

Benefits :

• The implementation of this Policy will provide clean fuel to the common people of the country.
• This will reduce dependence on fossil fuel and also reduce crude oil imports. The objective also is for our country to emerge as an export Hub for Green Hydrogen and Green Ammonia.
• The policy promotes Renewable Energy (RE) generation as RE will be the basic ingredient in making green hydrogen.
• This in turn will help in meeting the international commitments for clean energy.