Union Minister RK Singh Chairs Meeting on Government’s Green Hydrogen R&D Scheme”

New Delhi: The Union Minister for Power and New & Renewable Energy, R. K. Singh, spearheaded a crucial meeting on the Green Hydrogen Research and Development (R&D) Scheme of the Government today. The meeting, held in New Delhi, gathered key stakeholders, including Principal Scientific Advisor Ajay Sood, Secretary of the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE) Bhupinder Singh Bhalla, and representatives from various government bodies, academia, and industry players.

During the meeting, R. K. Singh emphasized the importance of focusing research efforts to identify primary areas, provide necessary support to research institutions, and bring technologies to fruition under the Green Hydrogen R&D Scheme. He stressed the need for collaboration among institutions with diverse expertise to work on identified priority areas.

The Minister highlighted the significance of enhancing the efficiency of electrolyzers to reduce the cost of Green Hydrogen production. Exploring cost-effective alternatives for producing and transporting Green Hydrogen was also emphasized during the discussion.

R. K. Singh informed the industry and research community about ongoing efforts to modify Internal Combustion Engines (ICE) for Hydrogen derivatives and the potential of sea-water electrolysis to produce Green Hydrogen as a promising research area for cost reduction and scalability.

The Minister proposed the formation of consortiums to conduct research across various segments of the Green Hydrogen value chain.

A presentation by the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy outlined over 40 initial problem statements for consideration under the Mission, covering production, storage & transport, applications, safety, cross-cutting analysis & integration. The stakeholders engaged in a discussion to identify priority areas for the first round of R&D projects.

It was highlighted that the R&D projects under the National Green Hydrogen Mission would include Mission Mode projects with a 0 to 5 years horizon, Grand Challenge projects with a 0 to 8 years horizon, and Blue Sky projects with a 0 to 15 years horizon. The Mission would also identify and support Centers of Excellence, with an initial focus on Mission Mode projects.