Hydrogen is Fuel of Future, Cornerstone of Energy Security: Hardeep Singh Puri

Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri stressed the significance of hydrogen. According to him, hydrogen is not only the fuel of the future, but also the corner stone of energy security, economic competitiveness, and environmental stewardship.

Union Minister Puri reminded that the government's target is to produce 5 million tons of green hydrogen per year by the year 2030. This is backed by a robust policy environment and a ₹19,700 crore production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme. He stated that all the world's electrolyzer manufacturers are flocking to India because they believe there is potential here.

Speaking about the achievements in adopting biofuel blending, Puri said, "We set a target of 10 percent biofuel blending by 2020. And we achieved it five months early. Then we set a target for ourselves, not 2020, but I think 2022. Then we set a target of 20 percent, I think by 2030. We achieved the first target five months early. We achieved the next target six years early."

Citing examples such as Indian Oil's green hydrogen plant in Panipat and Tokyo Energy's competitive bids in Visakhapatnam, the minister explained how India's hydrogen production costs are steadily falling, a sign of growing investor confidence and technology maturity.

He also pointed to the Indian Solar Energy Corporation's green ammonia tenders. The minister described green ammonia as "a significant export opportunity" given its logistical advantages over natural gas. The Union Cabinet approved the National Green Hydrogen Mission with an outlay of ₹19,744 crore on January 4, 2023. The broad objective of the mission is to make India a global hub for the production, use and export of green hydrogen and its derivatives, with a target of producing five MMT of green hydrogen annually by 2030.