Petroleum Minister addresses the Hydrogen Economy- New Delhi Dialogue

Newdelhi:16/4/21:Union Petroleum and Natural Gas & Steel Minister Shri Dharmendra Pradhan today said that India is looking towards various colors to kick-start the hydrogen ecosystem development. Addressing the Hydrogen RoundTable on “Hydrogen Economy: New Delhi Dialogue – 2021”, he said that in India, we have taken various initiatives with respect to the greater use of hydrogen in India’s energy mix. The government of India recently announced the National Hydrogen Mission in the Union Budget 2021 for making a hydrogen roadmap for the country. “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 a 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.”

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. “We are well on track to achieve 450 GW target of renewable energy generating capacity by 2030, he added. Diversification of our energy basket would be the key lever enabling this transition. However, it is equally important that the new energy-mix options synergize and co-exist with the established base technology already operational in the respective countries, in which, huge capital investments have been made.  That’s why the emergence of hydrogen at the center stage is a welcome development.”

Shri Pradhan said that by establishing synergies with natural gas, hydrogen can be easily adopted in the energy mix without seeking major infrastructural overhauling. “We are looking forward to introducing H-CNG as an intermittent technology in a big way for both automotive and domestic cooking applications.”

H.E. Dr. Sultan bin Ahmad Sultan Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, UAE, H.E. Mr. Angus Taylor, Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction, Australia, H.E. Mr. Dan Jørgensen, Minister for Climate, Energy, and Utilities, Denmark, and H.E. Mr. David M. Turk, Deputy Secretary of Energy, the United States also addressed the inaugural session of the roundtable.