The three-day International Conference on Green Hydrogen (ICGH-2023), being organized during 5th – 7th July 2023 at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi saw a resounding footfall of stakeholders from India and across the world with endeavour of the Government of India to ramp up Green Hydrogen production and align it with global trends in technology, applications, policy, and regulation.  

Speaking at the Valedictory Session of the coveted conference, the Union Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas and Housing & Urban Affairs Shri Hardeep Singh Puri  expressed his extreme satisfaction and said, “The conference being organised under the aegis of Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, in partnership with the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Office of Principal Scientific Advisor to Government of India and the Confederation of Indian Industry, has witnessed the presence of Captains from the Industry, deliberating through 25 expert sessions with over 1500 people attending these sessions. It is satisfying to see that we are moving towards Hydrogen Based Economy, which is need of the hour.”

Also present on the occasion were Dr Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of State (Ind. Charge) Science & Technology, MoS PMO; Shri Bhupinder S Bhalla, Secretary, Ministry of New & Renewable Energy; Prof. Ajay Kumar Sood, Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India and Mr Amitabh Kant, India’s G20 Sherpa.

Addressing the gathering Shri Hardeep Singh Puri said that there is now a global consensus that we need to make a transition to renewable energy. “India has embarked on a new journey and requires active support and collaboration amongst all the stakeholders and with the recent launch of National Green Hydrogen Mission, the Government means business.”

The Petroleum Minister also informed that India is 4^th in terms of installed renewable energy capacity and has achieved some of the lowest long term levelized costs for solar and wind power generation. “We have natural advantage in producing Green Hydrogen as we have abundance of solar energy and investments in our power grid. We have the apt climate, resources, adequate production and strong supply-chain for Green Hydrogen.”

Speaking on the immense potential India beholds for the world in the domain of clean and renewable energy, Shri Puri said that India is climatically blessed and with the government’s unwavering commitment for making the world a better place to live, the leading financial institutions have shown keen interest to invest in India.

“The European Investment Bank (EIB) will be our Hydrogen ally and would support for developing large scale Industry hub with a funding of 1 billion Euros. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has recently conveyed their intent to provide $20–$25 billion over five years to aid India’s aspirations for green growth. That’s not all, The World Bank has approved $1.5 Billion in Financing to Support India’s Low-Carbon transition journey”, shared the Petroleum Minister.

Talking about the importance of Public and Private Players coming together for bringing the future fuel on the global platform the Petroleum Minister informed that several review meetings at Industry level are regularly being undertaken for finding out ways to boost the hydrogen production capacity in India. “We will ensure uptake of Green Hydrogen in refineries and City Gas Distribution (CGD) through both public sector entities and private sector and try to design new projects with maximum chances of hydrogen deployment to strategically phase out fossil fuels and aid decarbonization goals.”   

Terming PSUs as the major game changers for ensuring a smooth Green Hydrogen Economy transition the Petroleum Minister said, “The PSUs are focussed on ensuring a Hydrogen based economy. They have targeted to produce more than 1 MMT of Green Hydrogen by 2030. The global demand for hydrogen is expected to reach 200 million tons by the same time, basis the IEA report”, added Shri Puri.

Addressing the gathering Dr Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of State (Ind. Charge) Science & Technology, MoS PMO said that the Hydrogen Mission will not only create jobs but will also boost global trade and reiterate India’s commitment towards Atmanirbhar Bharat. He focussed on the three mantras of Affordability, Accessibility and Acceptability.

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RKJ

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