Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh today announced financial aid of Rs 3.29 crore to a Hydrogen StartUp from Maharashtra for indigenous development of Hydrogen Sensing & Analysis Technology.

Dr Jitendra Singh said, the Hydrogen Startup funding is in tune with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of National Hydrogen Mission (NHM) launched on India’s 75th Independence Day, last year from ramparts of the Red Fort. He said, the NHM aims to aid the government in meeting its climate targets and making India a green hydrogen hub. This will help in meeting the target of production of 5 million tonnes of Green hydrogen by 2030 and the related development of renewable energy capacity, the Minister added.

Dr Jitendra Singh presided over the signing of an MoU between Technology Development Board under DST and M/s Multi Nano Sense Technologies Private Limited, Maharashtra to support the manufacturing of Hydrogen sensors indigenously.

Dr Jitendra Singh said, the company is developing an indigenous cutting edge hydrogen analysis sensor for new age applications. The development is also related to the universal miniaturised core sensor designs for leak detection and/ or analysis of hydrogen. The patented hydrogen gas sensor and analyser is based on a core sensor; which has been conceptualised, developed, manufactured and serviced entirely in India. The Minister informed that at present, it is heavily dependent on importing sensors, as all core sensor elements are imported from China, USA, UK, Japan and Germany.

The major quality of these sensors is that they do not face any cross interference from other combustible or reducing gases; can function in air as well as inert/ vacuum background and can perform analysis from 1ppm to 100% pure Hydrogen. With this technology, India can easily penetrate the global market to complement domestic demand through their Made in India products. The sensor has several unique and path breaking features such as Minimum detection: Parts Per Million (PPM) range; Maximum detection: 100% Pure Hydrogen; Instant response within 3 seconds; low power consumption for core sensor operation. Portable detectors can operate continuously upto 36 hours on single charge; non-corrosive; long life of 5 years etc.

Dr Jitendra Singh said, the demand for energy is growing and with the limitation of existing resources, there is a need for an alternative fuel. He said, ‘Hydrogen’ envisages being the future fuel to replace fossil fuel and therefore production of Hydrogen fuel by using power from renewable energy, termed as green hydrogen is one of the major requirements towards environmentally sustainable energy security of the nation. The Minister added that as per NITI Aayog’s report titled ‘Harnessing Green Hydrogen: Opportunities for Deep Decarbonisation in India’ Hydrogen will provide a pathway to accelerate the emergence of a green hydrogen economy, which is critical for India to achieve its net-zero ambitions by 2070.

Rajesh Kumar Pathak, IP&TAFS, Secretary, TDB said that, “The target of net-zero emissions by 2070, as said by Hon’ble PM at COP26 Summit, Glasgow, can be achieved by promoting alternative energy resources. Hydrogen is one such resource which requires indigenous ecosystem development including safety & security during its usage. As an initial step in this direction, TDB is supporting startup ‘M/s Multi Nano Sense’ for development and production of highly advanced leakage detection sensors to detect hydrogen leakage, and to enhance safety and security of the systems”.

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