India’s first green hydrogen cluster to come up in Karnataka

The upcoming Global Investors’ Meet (GIM) 2022 will see Karnataka emerging as the lead state in manufacturing green hydrogen in India.

Seven companies ACME Solar, ABC Cleantech, ReNew Power, Avaada, JSW Green Hydrogen, PETRONAS Hydrogen and O2 Power have evinced interest to invest in Karnataka for green hydrogen manufacturing. Four of them have been cleared for investment by the State High-Level Committee and three are at the MoU stage.

The total investment size (in green hydrogen) is expected to be around Rs 1.5 lakh crore. The investors have sought proximity to the Mangaluru port because they will convert green hydrogen to green ammonia and export it.

The land requirement for setting up a green hydrogen plant is around 100 to 300 acres. Their main requirement is that they should have a regular supply of solar and wind energy for which they will set up renewable energy units across the state. The green energy will be transmitted to the hydrogen plants at Mangaluru through the transmission lines of Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Ltd or/and Power Grid Corporation of India Limited.

The projects will come up stage-wise and will take a minimum of five to six years’ time.PM Narendra Modi while addressing the nation on the 75th Independence Day, announced the National Hydrogen Mission with an aim of making India a hub for the production and export of green hydrogen and energy independence before 2047.

Besides planning a lead in green hydrogen, Karnataka is also poised to play an important role in the global supply chain. “With the Covid-19 pandemic disrupting the global supply chain and the current geo-political scenario with many companies opting for China+ policy, it becomes more important now than ever before to showcase Karnataka as an optimal destination for investing and building for the world.

Thus, this edition of GIM would be under the theme ‘Build for the World’ reflecting on the role Karnataka aims to play in the global supply chain.