Gandhinagar, 27 May 2023: In keeping with India’s target of reduction in carbon emissions by 45% by 2030, Gujarat Government is currently in the process of formulating a new policy for green hydrogen manufacturing.
The guidelines of Ministry of Environment, Forest and climate change and other relevant ministries will be followed while finalizing the Green Hydrogen Policy. The draft policy will be ready within 2 months.
Recently, GoG has also released its land policy for Green Hydrogen manufacturers. “Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Limited (GUVNL) is in the process of formulating of draft Green Hydrogen policy to promote and facilitate development of Green Hydrogen Projects. We had one to one meeting with stack holders from 16th May to 24th May 2023.”, said a senior GUVNL officer.
How green hydrogen will change the industrial requirements of Gujarat
Because of Green Hydrogen usage, there will be substantial reduction in carbon emission due to reduction in fossil fuel (Natural Gas and coal) consumption which is primarily used for the production of Grey Hydrogen at present.
More than 98% hydrogen is used in refineries and fertilizers. As a result, one can think of establishing a Green Hydrogen Plant in such areas or its vicinity. Further, the GH can be used, in the initial stages, in the same plants as well.
Gujarat has a favorable industrial ecosystem coupled with a dedicated policy framework. Due to this, the state will be a hub for green energy and its ecosystem. Around ₹10 lakh crore worth of investments are expected in the state in this sector.
Major Indian conglomerates like Reliance and Adani have pledged investment worth over ₹10 lakh crore in this sector by signing MoUs with the government worth ₹5.6 lakh crore and ₹4.13 lakh crore respectively. 3 million tonnes of green hydrogen will be produced through this annually.
Other companies such as ArcelorMittal and Torrent have also signed MoUs for investments in green energy projects.
Benefits of Green Hydrogen Land Policy
The Gujarat Government has announced for providing several incentives, in accordance with its Land Allotment Policy, to industries who invest in the state’s Green Hydrogen Projects. The companies must meet 50% of their green hydrogen production capacity within five years of commissioning their plants and 100% within eight years.
Any unit/company can apply for land for the production of at least 1 lakh metric ton per year. Applicant should have experience in generating of minimum 500 MW of solar, wind and hybrid. The applicant should be user of brown, grey, blue hydrogen whose annual requirement of green hydrogen should be 1 lakh metric tons or more. The annual rent of land is ₹15000 per hectare which will increase 15% for every three years. The land to be allotted to the applicant will be deemed to be NA for the purpose.
Like any other plant, factors such as availability of land, water resources, transmission and evacuation facilities and port connectivity will be instrumental in determining the location of Green Hydrogen Plants. An area of 1.99 lakh hectares of land has been allotted by the state government on the Kutch-Banaskantha border. Interested companies will be provided with land on a 40-year lease, during the initial period.
Land has been allotted to a number of companies like Reliance, Adani, Torrent and Arcelor Mittal for the same.
Given the facts that production of 1 KG of Green Hydrogen (GH) requires 50 to 55 units of RE power, large scale production of GH will substantially increase the renewable energy requirement Gujarat. Considering 3 MTPA target of GH as envisaged in Land Policy-2023 of Gujarat, the renewable energy requirement of the state would increase by 165 billion units. The state’s total power requirement is 120 billion units during FY 2022-23.
