As the first stage in India’s transition to green hydrogen fuel, oil refineries and fertiliser plants will be subject to green hydrogen mandates. The draft policy under cabinet approval (by power and renewable energy minister RK Singh) will compel oil refiners to have at least 10% green hydrogen in their overall hydrogen consumption from 2023/24; fertilizer plants will be required to have at least 5%. The required hydrogen consumption will rise to 25% by the end of the decade for oil refineries and 20% for fertilizer plants.
So what?
Both industries currently rely heavily on grey hydrogen, which is much cheaper but is produced using fossil fuels, without any carbon dioxide capture. The process of production of green hydrogen does not release carbon dioxide, and the energy necessary for production needs to come from renewable energy sources. Increased green hydrogen production would thus require a similar increase in renewable energy production.
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