OMCs to give green hydrogen plan soon, says Hardeep Singh Puri

Oil marketing companies (OMC) would submit a road map for adopting green hydrogen in the next 10-14 days, said Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister, Hardeep Singh Puri on Thursday.

"I have been a staunch believer that the success of green hydrogen will come from the petroleum industry for a variety of reasons. You have the refineries, which will use it for a variety of P&G functions. In terms of their mindset, they are already doing that. It's happening everywhere in the world, not just India," said Hardeep Singh Puri at the CII Bioenergy Summit.

The Union Cabinet, earlier this week, approved an initial outlay of Rs 19,744 crore for the National Green Hydrogen Mission. R K Singh, the minister for power, new, and renewable energy, said earlier that the Centre will start a production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme to give impetus to manufacturing of green hydrogen and its key device, the electrolyser.

Electrolysers use electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. When electricity for the electrolyser comes from renewable sources like wind and solar, the hydrogen produced is called green.

Puri said global manufacturers have tied up with Indian partners for electrolysers. He stressed that the cost of green hydrogen would ultimately not depend on electrolysers, but on renewable sources. Green hydrogen production needs to be in places where the fuel is utilised the most.

E20 fuel

The government, on Wednesday, announced the phased roll-out of E20 (20 per cent ethanol blending in gasoline) from April 1. Officials said the fuel will be available at select outlets and will not require changes to car engines.

Puri said market forces would deal with the issue of automobile fuel engines not being compatible with petrol having more than 20 per cent blended ethanol. He argued engines programmed to run fuel with more than 20 per cent blended ethanol are readily available.

"There is now conventional wisdom that if you have 20 percent blending, then the existing engines with or without modifications are good enough to run it. There is also now technology available if you need to do minor adjustments (to the engine)," he said.

Every 10 per cent of biofuel blending in petrol saves the country Rs 40,000 crore worth of crude imports.