Oil India Limited (OIL) has taken the first significant step toward the Green Hydrogen Economy in India with the commissioning of India’s First 99.999% pure Green Hydrogen pilot plant in Assam today.
The plant was commissioned in a record time of 3 months and has an installed capacity of 10 kg per day.
Sushil Chandra Mishra, Chairman, and Managing Director inaugurated the plant in the presence of Shri Harish Madhav, Director (Finance), and Shri Prasanta Borkakoty, Resident Chief Executive of the company.
Speaking on the occasion, Shri Mishra said that the company has taken an important step towards fulfilling the vision of our Prime Minister for an atmanirbhar India.
Anion Exchange Membrane Technology
The plant produces Green Hydrogen from the electricity generated by the existing 500kW Solar plant using a 100 kW Anion Exchange Membrane (AEM) Electrolyser array. The use of AEM technology is being used for the first time in India.
This plant is expected to increase its production of green hydrogen from 10 kg per day to 30 kg per day in the future.
The company has initiated a detailed study in collaboration with IIT Guwahati on the blending of Green Hydrogen with Natural Gas and its effect on the existing infrastructure of OIL.
The company also plans to study use cases for commercial applications of the blended fuel.
What is Green Hydrogen?
Green hydrogen is the hydrogen generated by renewable energy or from low-carbon power. It has significantly lower carbon emissions than Grey Hydrogen.
As opposed to this, Grey hydrogen is produced by steam reforming of natural gas and makes up the bulk of the hydrogen market.
It may be noted that in February, the Union Ministry of Power notified the Green Hydrogen and Green Ammonia Policy of India.
The policy endeavors to facilitate the transition from fossil fuel and fossil fuel-based feedstocks to green hydrogen and green ammonia.