New Delhi [India], July 20 : State-owned Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) is setting up a 370-tonne-per-annum electrolyzer-based green hydrogen plant at Visakh Refinery in Andhra Pradesh, Union Minister of State (MoS) for Petroleum and Natural Gas Rameswar Teli informed Parliament on Thursday.
In a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha, the minister said the state-owned entity spent Rs 11 crore out of a total fund allocation of Rs 33 crore for this project.
The scheduled completion date of the project is September this year, the minister added.
Union Cabinet in early January approved the National Green Hydrogen Mission, aiming to make India a global hub for such technologies' production, utilization, and export.
The green hydrogen mission will gradually lead to the decarbonization of industrial, transport, and energy sectors, and a reduction in dependence on imported fossil fuels, among others.
India meets a sizable portion of its energy needs through imports, and this green hydrogen mission is seen as an avenue to reduce the dependence on imported fuel.
The initial financial outlay for the mission is pegged at Rs 19,744 crore, which includes research and development activities.
Under this mission, the government aims to raise annual green hydrogen production to 5 million tonnes, renewable energy capacity addition of about 125 gigawatts, attract over Rs 8 lakh crore in investments, lakhs of jobs, and most importantly over Rs 1 lakh crore cumulative reduction of fossil fuel imports.
In the Budget Speech 2021-22, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman proposed launching a National Hydrogen Mission to generate hydrogen from green power sources.
India has a huge edge in green hydrogen production owing to its favourable geographic conditions and the presence of abundant natural elements.
In his Independence Day speech on August 15, 2021, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the launch of the National Hydrogen Mission.
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