India needs $25 billion for renewable hydrogen supply chain: industry body

India needs $25 billion to create a supply chain for renewable hydrogen to support a 25-GW fleet of electrolyzers if it wants to meet its target of 5 million mt/year production by 2030, industry body India Hydrogen Alliance, or IH2A, said April 4.

IH2A, speaking after a workshop with the government planning body NITI Aayog, recommended the formation of a government-industry group called H2Bharat Taskforce.

"The H2Bharat Taskforce will identify and shortlist five GW-scale national green hydrogen hubs for development in the next 12 months," said Jill Evanko, CEO of Chart Industries and a founding member of IH2A.

The workshop proposed pre-feasibility studies to start immediately for the first set of GW-scale green hydrogen hubs, an IH2A statement said.

Hubs could have co-located production and consumption centers across different use cases in regional clusters and should be designated as projects of national interest to attract funding, it said.

The suggestions envisage pooling of public and private resources and funding from sovereign green bonds. Multilateral and government agencies could part-fund design and pre-feasibility studies.

"Funding agencies are keen to see the synergies across the green hydrogen value chain in project plans rather than standalone green hydrogen projects," it said.

The Indian government announced an interim renewable hydrogen and ammonia policy on Feb. 17, giving a slew of benefits to project developers including quick approvals, open access to renewable power and waivers of inter-state power transmission charges.

It targets the production of 5 million mt a year renewable hydrogen by 2030. A full policy is being worked on.

$2.5/kg by 2025

The government aims to produce renewable hydrogen at $2.5/kg by 2025 and $1/kg by 2030, Amitabh Kant, chief executive, NITI Aayog said.

"India's green hydrogen production cost is expected to be amongst the lowest in the world," Kant said. "The H2Bharat Taskforce is an interesting proposal to kick-start project development... we welcome this voluntary initiative from the industry and look forward to collaborating on it."

The workshop was attended by representatives from the European Investment Bank, World Bank, OECD, government of India, government of Kerala state and other institutions and industry players.

India has announced 26 hydrogen projects, according to the S&P Global Commodity Insights' Hydrogen Production Assets database.

S&P Global assessed New South Wales hydrogen produced via alkaline electrolysis, including CAPEX at A$9.89/kg ($7.45/kg) April 1, up 79% from a month ago.

Queensland hydrogen produced via coal gasification with CCS was assessed at A$3.19/kg April 1, up 35% from a month ago.