Launched in early 2023, the National Green Hydrogen Mission has a vision to make India self-reliant in clean energy, reducing dependence on fossil fuel imports.
As recent as March this year, the first-ever trials of hydrogen-powered heavy-duty trucks were launched in the country marking a major step towards sustainable long-distance cargo transportation, aligning with the country’s broader green energy goals. The trial was funded by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy under the National Green Hydrogen Mission (NGHM) and will span up to 24 months involving the deployment of 16 advanced hydrogen-powered vehicles with varying configurations and payload capacities. These trucks, equipped with new age Hydrogen Internal Combustion Engines (H2-ICE) and Fuel Cell (H2-FCEV) technologies, will be tested on India’s most prominent freight routes.
The Government has initiated five such pilot projects for using Hydrogen in 37 vehicles (buses and trucks) and nine hydrogen refuelling stations. The vehicles that will be deployed for the trial include 15 hydrogen fuel cell-based vehicles and 22 hydrogen internal combustion engine-based vehicles. These vehicles will run on 10 different routes across the country viz., Greater Noida – Delhi – Agra, Bhubaneshwar – Konark – Puri, Ahmedabad – Vadodara – Surat, Sahibabad – Faridabad – Delhi, Pune – Mumbai, Jamshedpur – Kalinga Nagar, Thiruvananthapuram – Kochi, Kochi – Edappally, Jamnagar – Ahmedabad, and NH-16 Visakhapatnam – Bayyavaram. The projects have been awarded to TATA Motors Ltd, Reliance Industries Limited, NTPC, ANERT, Ashok Leyland, HPCL, BPCL and IOCL.
Green Hydrogen is defined as hydrogen produced by the electrolysis of water, using renewable energy like solar, wind or hydropower with close to zero greenhouse gas emissions. It is a clean energy source that only emits water vapour and leaves no residue in the air, unlike coal and oil.
Transport Sector Pilot Projects, a key component of NGHM, are designed to support the phased deployment of Green Hydrogen as fuel in buses, trucks, and four-wheelers, validate the technical feasibility and performance of green H-operated vehicles under real-world conditions, assess the economic viability of Hydrogen-fuelled vehicles, evaluate the effectiveness of hydrogen refuelling stations, identify areas for improvement in vehicle performance, demonstrate the safe and secure operations of said vehicles, refuelling stations and pilot projects in the transport sector.
According to the mission document released by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, while India has declared the goal to achieve Net Zero emissions by 2070, its demand for energy and resources is set to rise, with energy use likely to grow by at least another 25% by 2030. India currently imports over 40% of its primary energy requirements worth over USD 90 billion every year. Major sectors like mobility and industrial production are significantly dependent on imported fossil fuels necessitating a shift towards technologies that enable enhanced share of renewable sources in the energy mix and progressively reduce the reliance on fossil fuels.
Considering Hydrogen’s advantages for heavy-duty, long-haul vehicles, certain routes would be designated as Hydrogen Highways. The necessary Green Hydrogen production projects, distribution infrastructure and refuelling stations will be built along such highways. This will enable Hydrogen fuelled inter-state buses and commercial vehicles to ply on such routes. NGHM proposes to support deployment of FCEV buses and trucks in a phased manner on pilot basis. Financial assistance will be provided to close the viability gap due to the relatively higher capital cost of FCEVs in the initial years.
The learnings from the pilot projects will help inter-city bus and truck operators, (including State Transport Undertakings) in gaining experience with the deployment and usage of Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and refuelling technologies. The Mission will also explore the possibility of blending Green Hydrogen based Methanol/Ethanol and other synthetic fuels derived from Green Hydrogen in automobile fuels.
All concerned Ministries, Departments, agencies and institutions of the Central and State Government will undertake focused and coordinated steps to ensure successful achievement of the Mission objectives. The role of MoRTH will be to enable adoption of green hydrogen in the transport sector through regulations, standards and codes, primarily for heavy commercial vehicles and long-haul operations. MoRTH will also facilitate technology development for adoption of green hydrogen in the transport sector through testing facilities, pilot projects, and provide support for infrastructure development.
