India Sees Hydrogen As Future Energy: Union Minister

New Delhi: Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas & Steel Dharmendra Pradhan on Thursday said with the pilot project of running 50 buses in Delhi on hydrogen-CNG fuel showing encouraging results, the government sees hydrogen as the future energy.

Pradhan was speaking at the signing of a statement of intent between Indian Oil Corporation and Greenstat Hydrogen India Pvt Ltd, a subsidiary of Greenstat Norway for setting up Centre of Excellence on Hydrogen. It aims at developing a Centre of Excellence on Hydrogen (CoE-H) including CCUS and Fuel Cells by Indian Oil and Greenstat for clean energy in cooperation with Indo-Norwegian Hydrogen Cluster companies/organisations.

He said the Central Government is giving importance to exploration of new and emerging forms of energy. India is the third-largest energy consumer with growing energy demand, making it the place to be, for any energy entrepreneur in any part of the globe, he added.

The CoE-H will facilitate transfer and sharing of technology, know-how and experience through the green Hydrogen value chain and other relevant technologies including hydrogen storage and fuel cells. The CoE-H will be a vehicle for promoting R&D projects in Green and Blue Hydrogen between Norwegian and Indian R&D institutions/universities.

The institute will also act as a think-tank towards developing codes and standards for best industrial practices, safety, product protocols and regulations in the area of hydrogen and fuel cells.

Ambassador of Norway to India Hans Jacob Frydenlund said in the efforts to combat global climate change, use of green and renewable energy is paramount. He talked about Norway’s strength and experience in green energy and expressed willingness to work together with India in the area of hydrogen energy. He also expressed happiness at the signing of statement of intent.