'Govt Plans To Leverage CNG Pipeline Network To Reduce Transportation Cost Of Hydrogen,' Minister Dharmendra Pradhan

Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Dharmendra Pradhan said that India is taking several measures to fillip the country's hydrogen ecosystem development.

He was speaking at the inaugural Hydrogen RoundTable on "Hydrogen Economy: New Delhi Dialogue –2021." organised by the Energy Forum (TEF) and the Federation of Indian Petroleum Industry (FIPI) under the aegis of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas on Thursday 15 April.

"We are working on a pilot project on Blue Hydrogen, Hydrogen CNG (H-CNG) and Green Hydrogen. Through technological advancements, we are blending hydrogen with compressed natural gas for use as transportation fuel as well as an industrial input to refineries. 50 buses in Delhi are plying on blended hydrogen in Compressed Natural Gas on a pilot basis. We plan to scale it up in the coming months across the major cities of India.", Pradhan said in his address.

Government of India recently announced the National Hydrogen Mission in the Union Budget 2021 for making a hydrogen roadmap for the country, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas said in a statement.

The Minister said that India remains committed to environmental and climate causes with a massive thrust on deploying renewable energy and energy efficiency measures. In the past six years, India has increased its renewable power portfolio from 32 GW to almost 100 GW.

Pradhan added that his ministry is committed to augmenting the hydrogen supply chain infrastructure in the country.

"Presently, as in the case of other countries, our petroleum sector is the largest producer of hydrogen for various refinery process operations.- Gujarat refinery of Indian Oil where the combination of hydrogen production through natural gas and its hyphenation with the carbon capture technology will result in the production of blue hydrogen. Multiple buses powered by fuel cells will be covering various iconic routes. Efforts are underway to leverage the vast CNG pipeline infrastructure to reduce the transportation cost of hydrogen." he said.

The roundtable was also addressed by Energy and Climate ministers of United Arab Emirates, Denmark, Australia and Deputy Secretary, Energy, United States of America.