The Hydrogen Stream: Essar to set up green hydrogen plant in Gujarat

Essar Group will invest Rs 30,000 crore ($3.6 billion) over the next four years in setting up a 1 GW green hydrogen plant in the Jamnagar district of Gujarat. The project will use 4.5 GW of renewable energy by Essar’s sister concern Essar Renewables to split water molecules to produce hydrogen and oxygen.

“Essar Future Energy plans to develop 1 GW of hydrogen capacity along with associated green molecules capacity of 1 million tonne per annum in Jamnagar over the next four years,” Prashant Ruia, director of Essar Capital, which manages the group’s portfolio of investments, told PTI.

Essar is looking to decarbonise its oil refinery in the UK, construct a green steel plant in Saudi Arabia, and build an LNG and electric ecosystem to decarbonise long-haul heavy trucks, Ruia told PTI.

Essar Group is also mulling foray into mining of critical minerals required for electric vehicle batteries, solar panels and wind-turbine magnets.

AM Green (formerly Greenko ZeroC) has received CertifHy EU RFNBO pre-certification for their green ammonia project in Kakinada, India. “This marks a significant milestone for AM Green and is an acknowledgment of India’s green hydrogen and ammonia potential. AM Green will be the first company to achieve this milestone for projects based out of India. This pre-certification puts AM Green in a leading position to unlock the EU RFNBO market, a firm advantage as the company sets out to develop one of the world’s largest green ammonia facilities in Kakinada,” stated AM Green.

By 2030, AM Green’s green ammonia production capacity will increase from one to five million tons per annum—equivalent to one million tonne per annum of hydrogen.

CertifHy, a leading renewable hydrogen and e-fuels certification provider, partnered with Hinicio and Bureau Veritas to undertake the pre-certification. Hinicio, a renewable hydrogen consultancy, first conducted a comprehensive review to ensure project compliance and develop a long-term strategy. Bureau Veritas subsequently assessed AM Green’s plant operations against CertifHy’s EU RFNBO Voluntary Scheme.

Recently, a German delegation met Indian green hydrogen industry representatives from Sustainable Projects Developers Association (SPDA). The discussion was aimed to explore collaboration and address key concerns related to green hydrogen procurement and utilization of Internationally Transferred Mitigation Outcomes or ITMOs.

The German delegation, with representative from Federal Ministry BMWK, KFW and a consultant assisting the Ministry on Article 6 and Carbon Credits, expressed interest in procuring ITMOs generated within India. Their primary worries focused on avoiding double counting of emission reductions and the need for a standardised baseline for green hydrogen emissions to determine ITMO value per kilogram.

Indian industry including Acme, Avaada Group, Enfinity, Greenko, Gentari, NTPC, Renew, Hygenco, Sembcorp, Ocior, and many others, highlighted and explained the importance of offtake agreements along with ITMOs. Long term off-take agreements are critical for supply at competent rates considering the price difference between Green ammonia and Grey Ammonia. The importance of viability gap funding to bridge the cost disparity between grey and green hydrogen solutions was highlighted.

Industry representatives also advocated for a more realistic ITMO price reflecting existing market prices and a linkage to established global carbon markets like the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS).

Bankers and lenders expressed reservations about financing projects relying on low-priced ITMOs, further strengthening the industry’s support for the bundled offtake and ITMO model as the most viable and preferred pathway to drive the green hydrogen revolution forward.

“This interaction marks a significant step forward in our mission to lead the global green energy transition. By collaborating with international partners and addressing critical issues like emission reductions and market viability, we can pave the way for sustainable innovation and economic growth. At SPDA, our effort has always been that such schemes achieve their intended objectives for which they have been developed. We look forward to agreements between India and other countries under Article 6.2 of the Paris Agreement,” said Shekhar Dutt, director general, SPDA.

The Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO) said that considerable reductions in unit capital costs, electricity costs, and electricity grid tariffs are needed to reach competitive production costs for green hydrogen. TNO said the price of hydrogen is higher than expected. “Electrolyzer projects of 100 MW to 200 MW for which one would like to take a final investment decision and would like to start construction in 2024 in the Netherlands, face an LCoH of the order €12 ($12.81)/kg to €14/kg, without taking into account any form of subsidy, or revenues from electrolyzer operations,” said TNO. In the most favorable cases, the LCoH could decrease to €10/kg.

Meld Energy has secured approval from the East Riding of Yorkshire Council to construct a GBP 250 million ($320 million), 100 MW green hydrogen production facility at Saltend in Hull, England. They will build the facility at Saltend Chemicals Park, a hub for chemical businesses like BP Petrochemicals Technology, Vivergo Fuels, Yara, Mitsubishi Chemicals UK, Ineos, and Air Products. In April, Meld Energy submitted a bid for funding from the government’s Hydrogen Production Business Model. “Successful schemes are expected to be announced later this year, with the government aiming to support up to 875 megawatts of hydrogen production in total,” said Meld Energy.

Hyvia, a joint venture between Renault Group and Plug, has partnered with Hype to accelerate decarbonized hydrogen mobility. “This partnership covers the entire ecosystem of H2 mobility: the supply of decarbonized hydrogen, H2 refueling stations, and hydrogen vehicles,” said Hyvia. Its 1 MW electrolyzer will supply Hype’s Paris refueling station with green hydrogen. Hype will deploy two more hydrogen stations by year-end and will use at least nine more hydrogen vans from Hyvia.

MissionH24 has developed the new H24EVO hydrogen-electric prototype car. Pierre Fillon, president of the Automobile Club de l’Ouest and co-president of MissionH24, said it demonstrates a hydrogen-electric prototype capable of competing with conventional thermal cars. The prototype will reportedly race for the first time in early 2025. The car features two 700 bar hydrogen tanks with a capacity of 7.8 kg, a 400 kW lithium battery, and a 300 kW net Symbol fuel cell multi-stacks. TotalEnergies, Michelin, OPmobility, Dietsmann, and Richard Mille are partners in the project.

The European Commission said the domestic leg of the second auction of the European Hydrogen Bank will have a €1.2 billion budget after the stakeholder consultation. It will announce this by the end of the year. Tim McPhie, a spokesperson for the European executive body, said the total value of the auctions, including the international leg, is €3 billion.

The US Department of Energy’s (DoE’s) Office of Technology Transitions and the Technology Commercialization Fund (TCF) has unveiled a new program, the TCF Open Voucher Call, that connects the public with researchers at DoE national laboratories. “This single-phase call will award up to 21 teams with a technical assistance voucher of up to $100,000, redeemable at one of eight national labs,“ said the DoE. Separately, the department’s Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office (HFTO) has also launched a new web website.

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