Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has notified G.S.R. 889(E) dated 16^th September, 2016, for use of Hydrogen as an automotive fuel in the country. The specifications for Hydrogen for Internal Combustion Engine have been specified in Annexure IV-W of the said notification. 18% blend of Hydrogen with CNG

(HCNG) has been notified by this Ministry vide G.S.R. 585(E) dated 25^th September, 2020. This Ministry vide G.S.R. 579(E) dated 23^rd September, 2020 has notified safety norms regarding hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and its components.

Ministry of New and Renewable Energy is implementing Renewable Energy Research and Technology Development programme to support research in various aspects of renewable energy including inter-alia hydrogen based transportation and fuel cell development. The ongoing R&D projects on hydrogen and fuel cells are as under:-

1. Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore has established a production plant for high purity hydrogen generation through biomass gasification.
2. ARCI Centre for Fuel Cell Technologies, Chennai is setting up an integrated automated manufacturing line for producing 20 kW PEM Fuel Cell stacks.
3. Dayalbagh Educational Institution has developed novel materials for Hydrogen production through Photo electrochemical splitting of water. Two patents were granted for materials developed under the project in 2021.
4. National Institute of Solar Energy, Gurgaon, under the project to establish a Centre of Excellence on Hydrogen Energy, have procured electrolyzer and other equipment for augmenting the Green Hydrogen production capacity to demonstrate various applications including hydrogen fuelled vehicles.

This information was given by Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Shri Nitin Gadkari in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.

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MJPS