Green hydrogen purchase to be mandatory for some sectors: R K Singh
Minister for Power and New & Renewable Energy R K Singh on Tuesday said purchase of green hydrogen will be made mandatory for certain sectors similar to renewable purchase obligation.
Under RPO (Renewable Purchase Obligation), bulk purchasers like discoms, open access consumers and captive users are required to buy a certain proportion of renewable energy out of their total consumption of electricity. They can also buy RE certificates from renewable energy producers to meet the RPO norms.
Interacting with the media in a virtual curtain raiser press conference on ‘India’s role as a Global Champion for the Energy Transition theme at the UN High Level Dialogue on Energy 2021’, Singh said just like RPO, hydrogen purchase obligation would ensure that the product sells.
Green hydrogen is produced using renewable energy and electrolysis to split water and is distinct from grey hydrogen, which is produced from methane and releases greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, and blue hydrogen, which captures those emissions and stores them underground to prevent them causing climate change.
The minister also expressed dismay over under-achievement of RPO targets by states.
“Most states have not achieved their RPO. In 2030, total installed power generation capacity of the country would be 821 GW including 450 GW of renewables. (So RPO is required to be met by states),” the minister said.
He noted that there would be a penalty for states for not meeting the RPO. Explaining about the high or unviable price of green hydrogen, he said the price will come down with an increase in volumes (sales and production) as was seen in the case of solar and wind energy.
In case of solar, the tariff had dipped to less than Rs 2 per unit in auctions for projects last year in December.