Oil India Commissions 10 kg per Day Green Hydrogen Plant in Assam

Oil India Limited (OIL), India’s second largest National Exploration & Production company after ONGC, has made a stride towards the  Green Hydrogen Economy in India with the commissioning of India’s First 99.999 per cent pure Green Hydrogen pilot plant.

The plant, with an installed capacity of 10 kg per day at its Jorhat Pump Station in Assam was commissioned in a record time of 3 months. Sushil Chandra Mishra, Chairman & Managing Director, inaugurated the plant in the presence of Harish Madhav, Director (Finance) and Prasanta Borkakoty, Resident Chief Executive of the company.

The plant produces Green Hydrogen from the electricity generated by an existing 500 kW Solar plant using a 100 kW Anion Exchange Membrane (AEM) Electrolyser array. The use of AEM technology is being used for the first time in India. Alkaline anion exchange membrane based fuel cells (AAEM) are attracting ever-increasing attention, as they are promising electrochemical devices for energy production, presenting a viable opponent to the more researched proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs).

Mishra said that this plant is expected to increase its production of green hydrogen from 10 kg per day to 30 kg per day in future. The company has initiated a detailed study in collaboration with IIT Guwahati on blending of Green Hydrogen with Natural Gas and its effect on the existing infrastructure of OIL. The company also plans to study use cases for commercial applications of the blende.

Public sector energy firms, especially the oil and gas firms have taken the lead in green hydrogen research and manufacturing plans, considering the potential to use existing infrastructure in both the manufacturing and transportation process.

Power major NTPC has also initiated a green hydrogen pilot at one of its plants.