The Energy Minister maintains that green fuel pilots are the first step in India’s leap towards energy independence

This is the time for India to seize the opportunity to chart its path towards energy independence, and the pilot projects being undertaken in green hydrogen and other fuels in sectors such as steel, mobility and shipping are steps in the direction, Raj Kumar Singh, Union Minister for Electricity and New Energy said. and renewable.

“When we switched to green hydrogen, our motive was to become, firstly, energy independent and, secondly, environmentally,” Singh noted during a conference on “India Green Energy Experiences,” organized by NTPC, the country’s leading integrated power utility company in India. . Before the G-20 summit on Tuesday.

Noting that steelmakers such as ArcelorMittal are already working on a pilot project to produce green steel, he said this should be taken on a larger scale to reduce carbon emissions in the industry. “We are one of the largest steel manufacturers in the world and we are still maintaining that while transforming the industry,” Singh said.

Likewise, there was a need to decarbonize long-distance commuting using fuels such as green hydrogen or ammonia, because electric mobility may not be the most viable option in the case of India, Singh notes.

Speaking about shipping, Singh said companies around the world are already working on technologies that will enable dhows to run on green fuels for the next 10 years.

Shipping will go green. We must become the refueling destination for all green ships. And this is our ambition because we can provide them with green hydrogen and ammonia at the lowest cost. We need to prepare beds (green fuel) in shipyards.

Singh said he was already working with the Ministry of Shipping, Ports and Waterways to accelerate green shipping through companies such as Shipping Corporation of India (SCI).

He said that establishing a strong infrastructure for storing fuels such as green hydrogen and green ammonia is equally important and that the government is already working towards it.

“Because our (energy) demand is increasing at a rapid pace, we need capacity at a rapid pace.”

He said that while establishing thermal power plants takes up to eight years, harnessing green fuels as energy sources can be done in less than three years.

Also speaking on the occasion, Bhupinder Singh Bhalla, Secretary, MNRE, described the ongoing pilot projects as a laboratory and a dashboard for the future success of the programme.

“They allow us to test cutting-edge technologies, assess regulatory frameworks and develop the necessary infrastructure. The data and insights gathered from these projects will be invaluable to us as we work to scale up and commercialize green hydrogen technologies,” said Bhalla.

“We believe that in the next decade, hydrogen will become a major fuel rather than looking at it as something that lies in the distant future,” said Gurdeep Singh, Chairman and Managing Director of NTPC.

As the world’s third largest energy consumer, India aims to increase its production of green hydrogen to 5 million metric tons (MMT) by 2030 under the National Green Hydrogen Mission to reduce its dependence on fossil fuel imports.