Govt issues guidelines for pilot projects using green hydrogen in transport sector

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy on Wednesday issued guidelines for a scheme to undertake pilot projects for using green hydrogen in the transport sector with a budgetary outlay of Rs 496 crores till the financial year 2025-2026.

The scheme under the National Green Hydrogen Mission will support the development of technologies to use green hydrogen as a fuel in buses, trucks and four-wheelers, based on fuel cell-based propulsion technology or internal combustion engine-based propulsion technology. The scheme will also support the development of infrastructure such as hydrogen refueling stations.

“The scheme will provide financial assistance to close the viability gap due to the relatively higher capital cost of hydrogen-powered vehicles and the infrastructure for hydrogen refuelling stations in the initial years. Expenses on account of hydrogen production, land, etc will not be funded under this scheme,” the ministry said.

In 2023, the Centre launched its ambitious National Green Hydrogen Mission to boost the production, utilisation and export of green hydrogen. The mission, which also targets a green hydrogen production capacity of at least 5 million metric tonnes per annum by 2030 and 60-100 GW electrolyser installations, with a budgetary outlay of Rs 19,744 crores till 2029-2030.

The government expects vehicles based on green hydrogen vehicles to become cost-competitive over the next few years with the falling costs of renewable energy and electrolysers. Economies of scale and rapid technological advancements in hydrogen-powered vehicles in the future are likely to further improve the viability of transport based on green hydrogen.

The first phase of the mission included the pilot projects for starting the transition in steel production, long-haul heavy-duty mobility and shipping while working to set up a regulatory framework. The pilot projects are expected to help identify operational issues and gaps in terms of technology readiness and regulations, implementation methodologies, infrastructure and supply chains.

The pilot projects in the transport sector will be implemented through the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and scheme implementing agencies.

The Green Hydrogen Mission has proposed designating certain routes as hydrogen highways, considering hydrogen’s advantages for heavy-duty, long-haul vehicles. This aims at enabling hydrogen-fueled inter-state buses and commercial vehicles to ply on such routes with necessary green hydrogen production projects, distribution infrastructure and refueling stations being built along the highways.

A steering committee under the co-chairmanship of the secretary of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, and the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy will be responsible for the overall monitoring of the scheme and projects undertaken.