Indian PSU refiners to set up 137,000 tpa green hydrogen facility by 2030.

The Indian public sector oil refineries have together planned to set up 137 kilo tonnes per annum (ktpa) of green hydrogen facilities by 2030. 

This was revealed by Dr S S V Ramakumar, Director – R&D, Indian Oil Corporation, at the India Energy Week, held recently in Bengaluru. Participating in a panel discussion on green hydrogen, Ramakumar said Indian Oil would first put up a 7 ktpa electrolysis plant at its Panipat refinery. 

He pointed out that IOC had entered into an agreement with the renewable energy company, ReNew Power and the engineering major, L&T, for putting up green hydrogen plants, not only for IOC but for other refiners also. 

“The last word on the (green hydrogen production) technology has not yet been spoken,” he said, noting that even if one were to assume that electrolysis of water is the only pathway to produce green hydrogen, still we are not very sure as to which type of electrolysers is the best. 

There are two mature technologies, alkaline and PEM, and both have their own merits and demerits, Ramakumar said. The third one, solid oxide, “which is projected to be a super-duper technology, is at TRL 3 or 4.” (TRL is ‘technology readiness level’; level 3 or 4 refers to quite low levels of readiness.) 

HBL