India H2 Alliance (“IH2A”), the industry-led energy transition coalition, has submitted a six-point agenda to the Government of India for creating a domestic ‘Bharat H2’ supply chain and to build hydrogen systems at scale. The submission was made jointly by IH2A Steering Committee co-leads, Chart Industries and Reliance Industries, to the NITI Aayog and Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), Government of India.
The IH2A recommendations to the Government of India cover the following six points:
1) The Government of India should immediately constitute a Public-Private Bharat H2 Taskforce to prepare a milestone-based national hydrogen roadmap and build a hydrogen economy at scale.
2) The Bharat H2 Taskforce and roadmap should aim to tap India’s potential to create a national electrolyser installed capacity of 15-20 GW and promote domestic manufacturing through a National Electrolyser Manufacturing Mission, aligned with the government’s FAME II Scheme.
3) India should create a national H2-themed Energy Transition Fund, with co-funding partnerships with sovereign partners, multi-lateral agencies, clean energy funds and industry, with the aim to raise USD 1 bn by 2030 for deployment towards national hydrogen projects of a certain scale.
4) A uniform set of globally-harmonised and inter-operable Bharat H2 standards for hydrogen storage, transport and dispensation need to be finalized quickly, so that hydrogen adoption is accelerated across different sectors and use-cases.
5) India should prioritise pre-feasiblity studies of at least 10 national Bharat H2 Hydrogen Valleys or H2 Hubs – large-scale demonstration stage projects with participation from industry consortia, incentives and off-take agreements guaranteed by the government.
6) India should form a Bharat H2 Industrial Group to leverage hydrogen for de-carbonisation efforts in steel, refineries, fertilizers and cement industrial clusters, and a separate Bharat H2 Heavy-Duty Freight Transport Group for hydrogen commerciaisation in railways, trucking and shipping, recognizing the different hydrogen infrastructure requirements in both groups.
Commenting on the recommendations made by IH2A to the Government of India, Jillian Evanko, CEO and President of Chart Industries said, “Building a domestic ‘Make in India’ hydrogen supply chain will require a set of concerted actions to build hydrogen systems at scale. The first step would be to create a public-private hydrogen taskforce that sets the right national ambition and scale. A national electrolyser manufacturing mission and ten Hydrogen Valley projects by 2030 will bring India within the global hydrogen value-chain. Funding will remain a challenge and India should prioritise the creation of a dedicated national Hydrogen Fund to address part of this challenge.”
IH2A was recently launched as a new energy transition coalition, to support commercialization of hydrogen technologies and systems to build net-zero carbon pathways in India.