India pitches green hydrogen, renewable financing to Singapore Deputy PM

In line with the maiden India-Singapore Ministerial Roundtable (ISMR) to firm up economic ties between the two nations last week, an Indian delegation on Tuesday presented investment opportunities in the Indian green energy sectors to the deputy prime minister of Singapore Lawerence Wong, Business Standard has learnt.

Wong who also is the finance minister, is on his maiden visit to India after being declared the deputy PM.

An Indian delegation led by Parmeswaran Iyer, chief executive officer, Niti Ayog, along with G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant, hosted a roundtable discussion on renewable energy and green hydrogen, said sources. The meeting also saw participation from secretary ministry of power Alok Kumar, secretary (East), ministry of external affairs Saurabh Kumar, Ajay Seth, secretary, department of economic affairs and secretary, ministry of new and renewable energy I S Chaturvedi.

Among industry participants were Gurdeep Singh, chairman and managing director, NTPC Ltd which is the country’s largest power producer. From the private sector, there were representatives from ReNew Power, ACME Solar, Greenko, L&T, Adani Energy, India Energy Storage Alliance and India Hydrogen Alliance.

Bilateral funding from Singapore and low-cost finance for green projects formed the core of the discussion between the delegations of the two nations. India is expected to pitch green bonds and similar such new age financing tools for investment in the Indian renewable energy sector, this paper has learnt.

Joint public and private partnership between the two nations along with research and development in the upcoming green hydrogen sector would also be explored.

“Development of a hydrogen hub will also be explored with Singapore. This would pertain to production of cheaper renewable energy for manufacturing green hydrogen, electrolyser manufacturing, and hydrogen storage technologies. Along with that, India also plans to propose to utilise Singapore’s maritime expertise for green hydrogen transportation,” said sources.

In 2021, India had announced a National Hydrogen Mission and launched a Green Hydrogen Policy earlier this year. The Centre is aiming for annual production of five million tonnes of green hydrogen by 2030.

Both India and Singapore are part of the First Movers Coalition formed at the COP26. The Coalition is aimed at decarbonising industry and transport sectors responsible for 30 per cent of global emissions.

This paper recently reported, the green hydrogen market in India is heating up with marquee names in India Inc and renewable energy companies announcing their manufacturing plans, despite the policy being in early stages. From RIL to Adani, Hinduja Group, ReNew Power, ACME, L&T have announced their investment plan in green hydrogen manufacturing.

While for some such as RIL, green hydrogen would replace fossil fuel usage, others like Adani are looking at the commercial viability of this new fuel as several industries will shift to green fuels in their bid to decarbonise.

Under the green hydrogen policy, the Centre is looking to aggregate demand for green hydrogen from key sectors such as fertilisers, steel, and refineries and offer them as a mega tender. The Centre has proposed to set up manufacturing zones for production of green hydrogen and ammonia. The policy also said the manufacturers "shall be allowed to set up bunkers near Ports for storage of Green Ammonia for export /use by shipping.”