IOC invites global tenders for first green hydrogen plant

The Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) has begun the process to set up its first green hydrogen generation plant in Panipat at 10 KTA (thousands tonnes per annum) capacity. The big project will be coming up in the next 30 months.

The IOCL on Monday invited global tenders for setting up the unit next to its Panipat refinery on land owned by it. News18 has accessed a copy of the document. At 10 KTA capacity, this will be among the largest green hydrogen plants in India.

In 2021, the IOCL had made public its plans to set up two green hydrogen plants — of 5 KTA capacity at its refinery in Mathura and of 2 KTA in Panipat. However, recently, the Mathura plan was dropped. The latest tender document specifies that the plant in Panipat will now be of 10 KTA capacity.

Green hydrogen is a key facet in India’s aim to achieve net-zero emissions by 2070, as announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the last climate summit (COP) in Glasgow. India wants to transform the current situation where presently its entire hydrogen production comes from fossil fuels.

IOCL owns and operates 11 refineries in India. The group refining capacity is 80.7 million metric tonnes per annum (MMTPA) or 1.6 million barrels per day — the largest share among refining companies in India. It also owns and operates a large network of pipelines of over 14,000 km for the transportation of crude oil and products in India.

The proposed location of the new green hydrogen unit is between the Panipat Refinery and Panipat Naphtha Cracker area in land owned by the IOCL within the vicinity of the Panipat Refinery Complex. The successful bidder will ensure the supply of gaseous green hydrogen at the delivery point to IOCL. The company intends to utilise green hydrogen produced using renewable power and integration of green hydrogen with the existing hydrogen network of the Panipat Refinery. The new unit will have a green hydrogen generation unit of 1,250 kg per hour capacity on 24×7 basis.

IOCL operates a 15.0 MMTPA refinery at Panipat and is under the process of enhancing the refinery capacity from 15 to 25 MMPTA. In line with Auto Fuel Policy 2025, to produce or manufacture 100 percent BS-VI fuels only, Panipat Refinery has successfully executed BS -VI project in 2018 at Panipat to upgrade the entire gasoline and diesel to BS-VI specifications.