Tata Steel And ACME Group Join Forces For India's Largest Green Hydrogen Project Worth Rs 27,000 Crore In Odisha

Renewable energy company ACME Group has partnered with Tata Steel Special Economic Zone Ltd. (TSSEZL) to establish a green hydrogen and green ammonia project at the Gopalpur Industrial Park (GIP) in Odisha.

This project will be India's largest manufacturing facility for green hydrogen and its derivatives in the country, according to TSSEZL.

ACME Clean Energy Private Ltd. (ACME Group) has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire 343 acres of land in TSSEZL's Gopalpur Industrial Park (GIP) in the Ganjam district of Odisha. This land will be used to set up the green hydrogen and derivatives unit.

The estimated total investment by ACME Group for this project is Rs 27,000 crore, which will be invested in phases.

ACME Group's plan for the Gopalpur Industrial Park (GIP) includes the establishment of a green ammonia production facility with a capacity of nearly 1.3 MTPA.

This production facility will utilise green hydrogen and will be powered by renewable energy sources.

The green ammonia produced at this facility will be exported to markets in the west and east from the existing Gopalpur Port facility, which is near the project site.

The utility corridor between Gopalpur Industrial Park and Gopalpur Port provides a dedicated corridor for smooth logistics and pipeline connectivity, according to TSSEZL.

Manoj K. Upadhyay, Founder and Chairman of the ACME Group, stated that this project will enable them to offer Make In India green hydrogen and green ammonia to domestic and international markets at a competitive price.

Manikanta Naik, Managing Director of Tata Steel Special Economic Zone Ltd., highlighted that Gopalpur Industrial Park has become a preferred investment destination in a short period of time due to its plug-and-play infrastructure, multi-modal logistics connectivity, ready environmental clearance, and clear land title, reports The Hindu.

He also expressed excitement about the presence of valued clients in the industrial park and the anticipation of more investors contributing to the industrial progress of the region.

Green Hydrogen

Hydrogen is a key industrial fuel that has a variety of applications including the production of ammonia (a key fertiliser), steel, refineries and electricity.

The energy industry refers to different 'types' of hydrogen to differentiate how it is produced. Although the production of hydrogen remains primarily 'grey' at the moment, the future of hydrogen is 'green'.

The vast majority of industrial hydrogen is currently produced from natural gas through a conventional process known as steam methane reforming (SMR). The standard SMR process produces what is known as Grey Hydrogen and has the major disadvantage of releasing large quantities of by-product CO₂ into the atmosphere — the main culprit for climate change.

Grey hydrogen has increasingly been produced from coal, with significantly higher CO₂ emissions per unit of hydrogen produced so much that it is often called brown or black hydrogen instead of grey.

The diverse pathways to produce hydrogen mean we can produce it using renewable energy sources, such as wind or solar. That makes green hydrogen the cleanest option — hydrogen from renewable energy sources without CO₂ as a by-product.

Green hydrogen is defined as hydrogen produced via electrolysis, the splitting of water into hydrogen and oxygen with electricity generated from renewable energy sources such as solar or wind. This is the most environmentally sustainable way of producing hydrogen.