India has approved an incentive plan of 174.9 billion rupees ($2.11-billion) to promote green hydrogen in a bid to cut emissions and become a major exporter in the field, the country’s information minister said on Wednesday.
The move is targeted to help India, one of the world’s biggest greenhouse gas emitters, achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2070.
The incentive aims to make green hydrogen affordable and bring down its cost over the next five years, minister Anurag Thakur told reporters. Reuters reported last month about India’s plans for a green hydrogen incentive program.
The government expects investments totalling 8 trillion Indian rupees ($96.65-billion) in the green hydrogen sector, Thakur said.
India aims to produce 5 million tonnes of green hydrogen per annum over the next five years, cut about 50 million tonnes of carbon emissions and save one trillion rupees on fossil fuel imports, Thakur added.
The United States and the European Union have already approved incentives worth billions of dollars for green hydrogen projects.
Hydrogen, made by splitting water with an electrical process called electrolysis, can be used as a fuel. If the devices that do that, electrolyzers, are powered by renewable energy, the product is called green hydrogen.
The current cost of producing green hydrogen in India is 300 rupees to 400 rupees per kg, according to industry sources.
Indian companies such as Reliance Industries, Indian Oil, NTPC, Adani Enterprises, JSW Energy, ReNew Power and Acme Solar have big plans on green hydrogen.