Reliance Industries (RIL), Tata Motors and Indian Oil Company (IOC) would be the key bidders for the federal government’s pilot challenge for the usage of inexperienced/gray hydrogen (H2) within the transport sector, in accordance with people who find themselves conscious of the event. The initiative is according to the federal government’s purpose to decarbonise the financial system, scale back dependence on fossil gasoline imports, and allow India to imagine expertise and market management in inexperienced hydrogen.
“The pilot initiatives will assist to determine operational points (almost about H2) and gaps by way of present expertise readiness, rules, implementation methodologies, infrastructure, and provide chains,” said the revised request for proposal (RFP) doc reviewed by ET.
The bid for the INR 496-crore challenge which opened in February, closes on Thursday. It’s a part of the Nationwide Inexperienced Hydrogen Mission which was launched in January 2023 with an outlay of INR 19,744 crore. One of many key standards from the bidders is participation as a consortium or companions to make sure all the worth chain – from making hydrogen and shelling out it and working autos fuelled by hydrogen. The bidding consortium ought to embrace a car producer, hydrogen gasoline provider distributor, and different companions as required.
In response to trade sources, whereas Reliance is partnering with bus and truck maker Ashok Leyland and Daimler India Business Autos (DICV), Tata Motors is becoming a member of palms with IOCL as a consortium. Ashok Leyland can also be partnering with NTPC for a similar. Queries despatched to RIL, NTPC and IOCL remained unanswered until press time.
To make certain, many of the automakers have been working pilots on hydrogen-fuelled vans and buses for power corporations equivalent to RIL and NTPC for a while now. Spokespersons at Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland weren’t instantly accessible for a remark. A DICV spokesperson confirmed that it has given “letter of help” to RIL for the challenge.
Among the many bidders for the tender, RIL-which can also be a participant within the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for the electrolyzer and inexperienced H2, is the one one that may be an end-to-end service supplier for the pilot project-from H2 manufacturing and shelling out the gasoline to working an H2-powered car.
The oil-to-telecom conglomerate which has been constructing the brand new power enterprise for the previous few years, might be a giant beneficiary if it wins the bid for the challenge. It could pave the way in which for the mass scale hydrogen manufacturing within the coming years according to the federal government’s intent, mentioned an individual aware of the challenge.
The H2 hall challenge seeks to help the deployment of hydrogen-powered buses, vans, and vehicles, in a phased method on a pilot foundation. The winners of technical adopted by the industrial bid, might be offered funds to shut the viability hole because of the comparatively greater capital price of hydrogen-powered autos within the preliminary years. The learnings from the pilot initiatives will assist inter-city bus and truck operators (together with State Transport Undertakings), and personal automobile customers in gaining expertise with the deployment and utilization of hydrogen-powered autos and refueling applied sciences, in accordance with the RFP.
Business sources added that piloting the challenge with gray hydrogen will enable corporations time to arrange the infrastructure and guarantee easy functioning of the identical. Gray hydrogen is produced by pure gasoline or coal.
