India needs $15 billion funding to set up 15 GW hydrogen capacity by 2030: V K Saraswat.

India will need a funding of USD 15 billion to set up 15 GW (gigawatt) of green hydrogen capacity by 2030, NITI Aayog Member V K Saraswat said recently.

He was speaking at a conference 'India@2030: A Roadmap for Aatmanirbhar Bharat in Renewable Energy' organised by CII here, a statement said.

"India will require an estimated USD 15 billion in public and private funding to set up 15 GW of green hydrogen by 2030, V. K Saraswat, Member, NITI, Aayog said pointing out that green hydrogen is the future," the CII said.

Green hydrogen is the fuel of the future but its price continues to be prohibitive for sectors like fertilizer and refinery which need to use it, said Saraswat said.

In his address, the NITI Aayog member also suggested certain measures to reduce the cost of green hydrogen.

Saraswat said that "for the price of green energy to come down to USD 1/kg, 80 per cent reduction in cost of electrolyser is needed, electricity cost has to slash to 2 cents per kwh (kilowatt hour), electrolyser plant life must increase to 20 years and electrolyser efficiency must increase by 76 per cent."

Kapil Maheshwari, President, New Energy, Reliance Industries Limited had recently told PTI that India is already a market of 6-7 million tonnes of green hydrogen.

Naresh Lalwani, Head of Strategy, Planning & Diligence, JSW Steel had said there is a need to focus on production and the cost of hydrogen which is at USD 3-4 per kg at present. Technologies to produce hydrogen at a low cost must be developed and adopted.

ET