HCEE INDIA 2026 INTERVIEW: Reliance to start renewable hydrogen output in 2027, ramp up by 2028

Reliance Industries Ltd. expects to begin renewable hydrogen production at Jamnagar next year, ramping up to fulfill a commercial offtake deal by 2028, as the Indian conglomerate moves to anchor its new energy ambitions around a coastal production hub in Gujarat.

Rahul T.R., vice president, strategy and planning, new energy at Reliance Industries, told Platts, a part of S&P Global Energy, the company is targeting production in phases, driven by commitments under India's production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme and an around $3 billion Samsung C&T offtake deal.

Renewable hydrogen "production should start next year in Jamnagar, ramping up to meet the offtake by '28," Rahul said on the sidelines of S&P Global Energy's Horizons Clean Energy Expansion India Conference 2026 in New Delhi on Sept. 24-25.

"We have qualified for various PLIs by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. So, in line with those, we'll be commissioning our projects to keep up with all those commitments," he said.

Rahul did not state the production volume, but Reliance Industries announced earlier that it aims to build a 3 million mt/year of renewable hydrogen production capacity at Jamnagar by 2035.

The renewable energy generation will be in Kutch on about 500,000 acres, while the company plans to set up the renewable hydrogen/ammonia facilities in Jamnagar, Kandla, and other locations near the ports, he said.

Reliance Green Hydrogen and Green Chemicals Ltd. won 138,000 mt/year renewable hydrogen production capacity under the government's Rupees 174.90 billion ($1.82 billion) Strategic Interventions for Green Hydrogen Transition scheme in 2024 and 2025, according to Solar Energy Corp. of India.

Transmission hurdles

Power transmission network infrastructure is the single biggest risk to the production timeline for renewable hydrogen, owing to the connectivity required with the producing zones, Rahul said.

"Availability of transmission, be it captive -- that is, Reliance setting up its own transmission -- or set up by the central transmission utility, is one of the biggest challenges that we are seeing and trying to address," Rahul said.

"It's the longest lead time also," he said.

As per plan, renewable generation in Kutch will feed electrolyzers in Jamnagar and Kandla, near the coast, creating a physical distance that will require dedicated transmission infrastructure, he explained.

He said the opening of transmission development to private parties through tariff-based competitive bidding, alongside a more commercially oriented Power Grid Corp of India, was helping accelerate build-out.

However, he acknowledged that physically erecting towers, lines, and transformers remained time-consuming activities.

The renewable hydrogen produced will be converted into renewable ammonia, with logistics handled via sea routes from nearby ports including Mundra and Kandla, he said.

Use case captive, exports

Reliance is pursuing both export and domestic offtake, though Rahul said no fixed ratio between the two has been determined, citing the volatility that has characterized the global hydrogen market since the COVID-19 pandemic, the Russia-Ukraine war, and more recent Middle East tensions.

"This industry was sort of born at a time when there is a lot of volatility," Rahul said. "Export is looking at decarbonizing hard-to-abate sectors in Europe, Japan and [South] Korea," he said, noting they are "those kinds of places, where... demand fluctuates based on whatever is the geopolitical reality."

On the domestic side, renewable hydrogen would partly replace conventional hydrogen in Reliance's Jamnagar refinery, contribute to renewable ammonia production, and potentially supply hydrogen mobility applications, Rahul said. The company targets net-zero carbon emissions in 2035.

Reliance has licensed alkaline electrolyzer technology from Norwegian manufacturer Nel and is establishing a gigafactory in Baroda, Gujarat, to manufacture the units for deployment at Jamnagar, Rahul said.

Reliance is in talks with European offtakers and believes its production model — using new renewable capacity, battery storage for time-matching, and India's grid — meets the additionality and temporal correlation requirements under the EU's Renewable Fuels of Non-Biological Origin framework, he said.

$1/kg goal eyed

On pricing, Rahul said that dynamics in renewable energy prices, battery storage, grid surcharges, and cross-subsidies are the factors that would influence renewable hydrogen costs in India.

He pointed to the company's "1-1-1" vision — $1 per kg of renewable hydrogen within one decade — first announced by Chairman Mukesh Ambani at the 2021 annual general meeting, as the target the new energy team is working toward.

"Our chairman's vision is $1 per kg of hydrogen in one decade," Rahul said. "I would still say we, as a team (at) new energy, still have about four to five years to achieve it," Rahul said.

The 2031 deadline implied by that vision, Rahul said, remains "the North Star that we aspire to," adding that achieving it "is going to unlock a lot of opportunities for the industry."

Platts, part of S&P Global Energy, assessed the India renewable hydrogen term contract at $3.19/kg on Sept. 24, down 0.9% from a month earlier.