Bhubaneshwar: A delegation from IHI Corporation of Japan led by its President & CEO Hiroshi Ide along with their partners ACME Clean Energy Ltd, led by Chairman Manoj Upadhyay visited Odisha on Tuesday. ACME is all set to set up a green Ammonia plant in partnership with IHI with an investment of nearly Rs 60,000 crore at Gopalpur in the state.
It was a return visit by the IHI – Japan delegation, post the visit to Japan by Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and meeting them in the April 2023. IHI Corporation is a Japanese engineering company that specialises in the manufacturing of heavy machinery, aerospace equipment, shipbuilding, green hydrogen, and its derivatives.
Official sources said IHI Corporation signed an MoU with ACME Group for collaboration opportunities across the green hydrogen and ammonia value chain, including production, handling, transportation, distribution, and power generation. ACME Group is setting up a large-scale production facility of Green Hydrogen and Green Ammonia at the Gopalpur Industrial Park with an investment of Rs 58,905 crore and employment of 3,700, an official release said.
On this occasion, the Chief Minister congratulated Hiroshi Ide and Manoj Upadhyay and urged them to complete the project and help expand green hydrogen & its derivatives footprint in the whole world. The CM reiterated the commitment of the state government towards making Odisha the “Green Hydrogen Hub” in the Country.
The government has recently come up with the Industrial Policy Resolution 2022 which aims to transform Odisha into a modern and advanced industrial state by offering the investors outstanding opportunities for sustainable business growth and to foster holistic socio-economic development of the people.
The Green Hydrogen sector enjoys special provisions in the “Thrust Sector” of IPR 2022 and this facility by ACME & IHI, marks a significant milestone for this sector in Odisha.
This is amongst one of the first integrated “Green Hydrogen” manufacturing facility in the state.
Located strategically in “Gopalpur” this project will catapult the city to a budding chemical hub.
The IHI & ACME delegation also called on the Chief Secretary and apprised him of the various developments in the project. The Chief Secretary welcomed the delegation and promised the wholehearted support of the entire state administration to facilitate & handhold this sunrise sector and take the investment lifecycle to its logical conclusion.
The setting up of this integrated facility by IHI & ACME through the government’s active support reinforces the Government of Odisha’s commitment to fostering industrial growth and creating employment opportunities by providing world-class investment facilitation to investors across sectors.
Manoj K Upadhyay said, “We are grateful to the Shri Naveen Patnaik, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Odisha, the Department of Industries, Govt of Odisha, and other stakeholders for extending support to ACME Group’s Green Hydrogen and Green Ammonia project in the State. He mentioned about fast tracking the project to be able to create a unique benchmark in this sector. This project will help us to offer Make in India Green Hydrogen and Green Ammonia to domestic and international markets at competitive prices. Mr. Upadhyay evinced keen interest in exploring other related opportunities.
Speaking during the occasion, Hiroshi Ide said that IHI Corporation is committed to the greening initiatives across the world and looks forward to making Odisha the “Green Hydrogen Capital”. Mr. Hiroshi also offered· IHI’s competence in transforming existing conventional energy power plants into green power plants and may also explore opportunities in the manufacturing of Heavy Mining and Construction Machinery, owing to its demand in the mining and metal manufacturing regions of Odisha and abundance of finished steel and aluminium in the state.
