India’s largest state-owned energy firm plans to take a big leap into green hydrogen by the end of this decade. Indian Oil Corp. announced last month it plans to build that nation’s first completely carbon-free electrolysis production site. The company will construct the hydrogen facility at its Mathura refinery.
A utility-scale wind farm at Rajasthan, owned by Indian Oil Corp., could power the green hydrogen electrolysis plant.
“We intend to wheel that power to our Mathura refinery to produce absolutely green hydrogen through electrolysis,” Indian Oil Chairman Shrikant Madhav Vaidya said in a statement. “Mathura has been selected because of its proximity to TTZ (Taj Trapezium Zone). As we see it, the green hydrogen will replace carbon-emitting fuels used in the refinery to process crude oil into value-added products such as petrol and diesel.”
Hydrogen does not contain a carbon atom and is seen as a highly promising energy carrier, but it is often created via carbon-intensive ways such as natural gas reforming and coal gasification. Electrolysis separates the hydrogen out of water, and that H2 can be used in power generation and other industrial processes.
Power generation equipment manufacturers such as Mitsubishi Power, GE and Siemens are working on developing both hybrid and 100-percent hydrogen-fired gas turbines for the future. U.S. utility Exelon is partnering with other companies on a H2-production project at one of its nuclear power plants (which also generate carbon-free electricity).
At the same time, many companies are working on projects to utilize lower or no-carbon H2 in industrial manufacturing. India is striving to boost its economic opportunities and electrify all of the nation. Some of this involves fossil-fueled power generation but that country also is working on both carbon capture, renewable and additional hydrogen goals.
Mukesh Ambani, considered India’s richest man, has announced a $10.1 billion (U.S.) investment plan toward clean energy projects, including hydrogen, solar modules and energy storage.
