India to draw $129 billion by 2030 for 5mn tons green hydrogen annually: CEEW Report

A recent report by CEEW states that India’s National Green Hydrogen Mission is expected to draw an investment of ₹10.6 lakh crore ($129 billion) by 2030, as the nation aims to produce 5 million tonnes of green hydrogen annually.

The report highlights that the initiative will contribute an additional 135 GW of renewable energy capacity, primarily from wind and solar, to facilitate hydrogen production. This mission plays a crucial role in India’s strategy to decarbonize its energy sector and decrease reliance on fossil fuels.

The CEEW report said that India will need 135 GW of RE capacity (51 GW solar and 84 GW wind) and 74 GW of electrolyser to meet its 310 billion units (BU) of electricity demand for 5 million tonnes (MT) of green hydrogen production. The peak electricity demand will increase by 67 GW to 409 GW in 2030. States like Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Maharashtra & Andhra Pradesh will play a key role in transition to green hydrogen economy.

“The battery storage requirement will reduce by 6 GW to 38 GW as the surplus RE will be used to meet the green hydrogen electricity demand instead of being curtailed” said CEEW.

CEEW also said that grid flexibility requirements will quadruple between 2022 and 2030 from 250 MW/min to 1100 MW/min (for the top 10% of the hours) to integrate the larger share of intermittent RE power.

Also, the cost of electricity generation will reduce by 2 per cent to INR 3.76/kWh from INR 3.83/kWh due to the increased contribution of cheaper RE sources in the generation mix.

CEEW held, “INR 10.6 lakh crore worth of investments will be required in the green hydrogen ecosystem with 71 per cent going towards RE deployment and the remaining 29 per cent towards building electrolyser capacity.”

The report states that not utilising Inter-State Transmission System (ISTS) support to wheel power within different states for green hydrogen production will increase the RE capacity requirement by 10 GW to 145 GW. It will also increase the levelised cost of hydrogen generation from USD 3.6/kg to USD 4.1/kg with an additional cost of INR 20,500 crore and reduce the electrolyser capacity by 9 GW to 65 GW; still the cost of green hydrogen production will increase.