Govt Earmarks ₹100 Cr for Green Hydrogen Start-ups, Sets Up Safety Panel

Government allocated ₹100 crore for start-ups in green hydrogen innovation and announced the formation of Hydrogen Safety Panel under the National Green Hydrogen Mission (NGHM).

At the First Green Hydrogen R&D Conference held on September 11, Santosh Sarangi, Secretary, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), said, "We will collaborate and support innovation efforts through funding, policy guidance and strategic partnership to build a green hydrogen economy that is affordable, safe, efficient and scalable."

On the first day of the two-day conference, organised by MNRE and CEEW, Pralhad Joshi, Union Minister of New and Renewable Energy, said that seven projects under the first round of the R&D programme are awarded for safety and integration with an outlay of nearly ₹11 crore.

For R&D in green hydrogen, the total outlay is ₹400 crore with a three-year timeline running from 2025–2026, under the Green Hydrogen Mission. The minister said, “We have already awarded 23 projects across several key areas.” Five of them are in hydrogen production from biomass, seven are in hydrogen applications and four projects are in hydrogen production from non-biomass routes.

Joshi said, “These projects are being implemented by some of our finest institutions such as IITs, IACRs, CSIR labs, as well as by industry partners.” He further mentioned that India is expanding collaboration in R&D as part of the EU–India Trade and Technology Council partnership.

NGHM, launched in 2023, aims to add 5mn metric tonnes of green hydrogen each year by 2030, with investments of over ₹8 lakh crore creating 6 lakh new jobs and expecting to reduce 50mn tonnes of CO2 emissions every year.

Earlier this month, India’s first port-based green hydrogen pilot project was launched at VO Chidambaranar Port in Tamil Nadu. However, green hydrogen technologies are at a nascent stage proving to be expensive. The supporting infrastructure including storage and refueling stations are not yet developed.

Ajay K Sood, Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India emphasised on the areas industry must focus on, including electrolyzer innovation, storage and transport solutions, safety training and standards and utilisation by hard-to-abate sectors. He said, “Our R&D cannot remain scattered or incremental. It must be mission-driven, benchmarked to global best practices and focused on measurable and scalable outcomes.”

He urged the industry to shift from current electrolyzers dependent on precious metals like iridium and platinum to anion exchange membrane electrolyzers which use non-precious metal catalysts and offer cheaper stacks. However, their stability under real plant conditions—hard water, dust and carbon dioxide in the air—remains a challenge.

Sood said, “The industry must work towards chemically robust polymer electrodes that can withstand strong alkali,” while also adding that the aim should be to run electrolyzers at higher currents with lower cell voltages, achieving greater hydrogen output per unit of electricity and higher efficiency.