India's L&T, ReNew tie up for renewable hydrogen production

Indian engineering conglomerate Larsen & Toubro and renewable energy company ReNew Power announced a partnership Dec. 2 to jointly develop, own, execute and operate renewable hydrogen projects in the country.

The companies are identifying opportunities and are looking to provide end-to-end solutions, the statement said, without giving details.

"This partnership will strategically place L&T and ReNew in a position to offer green hydrogen solutions to the industry," said Subramanian Sarma, whole-time director & senior executive vice president (energy), Larsen & Toubro.

"We are already looking at some interesting opportunities in the Indian market for green hydrogen and we intend to capitalize on them by developing end-to-end competitive solutions."

L&T primarily engages in EPC projects and high technology manufacturing and services, with a presence in more than 50 countries. Its businesses span construction, power, hydrocarbon engineering, shipbuilding and financial services, among others. ReNew has a 10.3 GW portfolio of renewable energy projects across India, including commissioned and committed projects.

In August, ReNew said it will acquire L&T's subsidiary L&T Uttaranchal Hydropower Ltd. to get a 99 MW hydropower project in Uttarakhand state, a move that would diversify its renewables portfolio.

The demand for renewable hydrogen in India for applications such as refineries, fertilizers and city gas grids will grow up to 2 million mt/year by 2030, which would call for investments upward of $60 billion, the statement said.

The two companies would be the newest entrants in a growing list of Indian entities announcing their intention to produce renewable hydrogen. The list include conglomerates such as Reliance, Adani and JSW, and energy companies like Indian Oil Corp. and NTPC Ltd.

Renewable energy company Acme Solar said earlier this year it has started producing some amount of renewable hydrogen from a new plant in Rajasthan state on a trial basis.

Other companies have announced their investments and tenders for electrolysis plants.

Reliance Industries will spend $10 billion in three years for factories for integrated solar photovoltaic modules, energy storage batteries, electrolyzers and fuel cells.

IOC has said it will float tenders for electrolysis plants based on three different technologies, and the renewable hydrogen generated in these would be used to fuel 15 fuel cell busses.

S&P Global Platts assessed New South Wales hydrogen produced via alkaline electrolysis at A$2.62/kg Dec. 2, up 3.97% from Nov. 2.

Western Australia hydrogen produced via SMR with CCS was assessed at A$6.84/kg Dec. 2, up 37.9% from Nov. 2.