Union Cabinet approves Green Hydrogen Mission

New Delhi: The Union Cabinet has approved the National Green Hydrogen Mission and approved a provision of around Rs 19,744 crore. According to this, 50 lakh metric tonnes of green hydrogen will be produced yearly for the next five years. An investment of around eight lakh crore rupees has been expected in this sector by 2030. Also, this will create more than six lakh jobs. This initiative will reduce carbon emissions to five crore metric tonnes. Also, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur informed that Rs One lakh crore would reduce the cost of importing conventional fuel. Thakur expressed his belief that by 2030, India will become the global centre for the production of green hydrogen.

Moreover, the Prime Minister highlighted the importance by saying that this was a historic decision taken by the Union Cabinet. The Prime Minister has expressed the belief that this will lead to development at a supportive pace and new investment opportunities will come to the fore. Research has been going on worldwide to separate oxygen and hydrogen from water and use hydrogen as fuel for various projects. Some developed countries have started working on this technology on a large scale. Furthermore, it is said to be the future technology as green hydrogen is environmentally friendly and does not emit greenhouse gases harmful to the environment. However, this requires a huge amount of research and investment and cannot be done by the private sector alone. Discussions had already begun that this investment and the necessary policy provisions needed to be made by the government.

In this background, the Union Cabinet took a historic decision and approved the National Green Hydrogen Mission. About 19 thousand, 744 crore rupees have been announced to promote this. Out of this, a fund of Rs 17 thousand 490 crores has been set aside to increase the production of green hydrogen and maintain the supply chain associated with it. Moreover, a fund of Rs 1,466 crore has been earmarked for pilot projects. Besides, Rs 400 crores have been announced for research and development related to this, while Rs 388 crores have been announced for other components.

Green hydrogen can be used as an energy source for automobiles, oil refining plants, and steel-making projects. This hydrogen will be produced by splitting water; hence its rates will be very low. However, the production will require a huge amount of investment. The ancillary industries necessary for this will also require huge investments. However, developed countries have realised the importance of green hydrogen, invested heavily in its development and research, and even announced concessions. Such countries include the US, the UK, Germany and Japan.

Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur has expressed confidence that India will become the global centre for producing green hydrogen by 2030. He has also said that India would export green hydrogen to the world. India, which has been growing economically at the most promising rate among the world’s major countries, will require a large amount of energy in the future. Hence, the initiative taken by the central government for green hydrogen becomes important. The initiative the central government took for green hydrogen, an alternative, eco-friendly, as well as cost-effective source of energy, has been welcomed by the fuel sector.

ACME Group CEO Rajat Sesaria has welcomed the concessions given by the central government for producing green hydrogen and has claimed that India will become a green hydrogen exporting country in the future. Mainly, it is said that this will save about one lakh crore rupees from the expenditure on importing conventional fuel. This will greatly reduce the pressure of fuel imports on the Indian economy. The current geopolitical tension will continue to increase, and as a result, fuel prices will increase drastically. In such a situation, the production of green hydrogen will greatly relieve the Indian economy on the fuel import forefront.

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