Indian Oil relaunches green hydrogen plant tender

Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL), the country’s largest fuel retailer, relaunched tenders for its maiden green hydrogen plant to be set up in Panipat, with the bidding process set to begin on April 15.

The newly launched tender for the nation’s largest green hydrogen plant removed the controversial clause which some bidders labelled as discriminatory. However, the new norms have a stricter qualification criterion.

The revised new tender issued earlier in March, seems to address concerns raised by developers regarding discriminatory clauses.

In February, the state-run oil marketing company cancelled the tender after a group of renewable energy firms moved court amid allegations that the nation’s largest fuel retailer made “tailored” tender norms favouring a joint venture that included IOCL.

The revised tender has removed the controversial ROFR (right of first refusal) clause, which The Independent Green Hydrogen Producers Association (IGHPA) alleged was designed in favour of IOCL’s JV company GH4 India.

IOCL did not immediately respond to a request for a comment when MC reached out after business hours.

The new tender demands consortium or joint venture participating in the tender to have maximum three members with each having minimum 26 percent stake. The previous tender didn’t mandate the minimum stake requirement.

IOCL incorporated the JV company GH4 India along with L&T Ltd and ReNew Power on August 25, 2023, three days before it floated tenders for the plant. Later, the company was declared the sole bidder when the bids were opened in December.

Sources in the know said that the JV partners also had concerns that going ahead with the tender, which was being challenged by their peers, may hurt their standing in the market.