“Till now, we were only talking about renewables or hydrogen for climate change purposes; forget that, it’s not a narrative anymore; that’s an old narrative, today it’s about energy security; we’ve seen what’s happened in the past 45 days,” Munjal told ET in an interview. He was referring to oil supply disruptions due to blockades of the critical Strait of Hormuz waterway.
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Viable alternatives to oil are available, according to Munjal.
“Today if you can give hydrogen for factories to run on and you can give wind and solar power for electricity and you can give methanol for transportation, especially of ships, then you can lower your dependency on oils and fuels,” said Munjal.
Hero Future Energies, part of the diversified Hero Group, was among the early movers in renewable energy generation in India having started operations around 2012. It has since attracted global investors like US private equity firm KKR. The company has renewable capacity of around 10 GW and is currently betting on green hydrogen as the next area of growth, said Munjal.
“You have to be at the front of the curve to grow with high margins,” he said. “We are a family business, and we have to be profitable. We are not running this business for headlines.”Also read: India EV Boom 2026: Electric cars race ahead – until price, policy and reality hit the brakes
Green hydrogen generation could prove a valuable addition to the company’s portfolio as it would have attractive margins though it’s expensive to produce currently, said Munjal. He also pointed out that the business of wind and solar power generation was getting commoditised. “If the rest of the industry is fighting for the bottom, we are not,” he said.
Hard-to-abate emission emitting industries such as cement, steel, paints, and glass could be potential customers for green hydrogen, said Munjal. “Green hydrogen is colourless, odourless, and extremely harmful,” he said. “So, you cannot move it around. It has to be produced at the site of its use.”
Munjal sounded an optimistic note about the prospects of the renewables sector.
