American advanced membrane and electrolyzer technology company Versogen has entered into a strategic partnership with Mumbai-based renewable energy provider InSolare Energy Limited to develop and commercialise high-performance Anion Exchange Membrane (AEM) electrolyzers tailored to India’s green hydrogen market, according to a report by Fuel Cells Works.
Versogen was founded by University of Delaware (UD) Professor Yushan Yan, Henry Belin du Pont Chair of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. The company’s technology is based on patented anode catalysts and a proprietary membrane developed at the university and commercialised through Versogen, which is headquartered on UD’s Science, Technology and Advanced Research (STAR) Campus.
Electrolyzers use electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. When powered by renewable energy sources such as solar or wind, they produce green hydrogen — a zero-carbon energy carrier that can be used for power generation and in manufacturing fertilisers, which are essential to global agricultural output and food security.
Yan said India represented one of the most dynamic markets for green hydrogen, and that the partnership with InSolare would bring Versogen’s patented PiperION AEM-related technologies to enable scalable, efficient, and affordable hydrogen production to support the decarbonisation of hard-to-abate sectors.
InSolare Energy plans to establish a 250 to 300 megawatt (MW) manufacturing facility for AEM electrolyzers in India, scalable up to one gigawatt (GW), to serve domestic demand and select international markets. According to Yan, a one-GW electrolyzer operating at full capacity could produce approximately one million metric tonnes of ammonia annually, sufficient to fertilise around 10 million acres of corn per year, while avoiding more than 1.5 metric tonnes of carbon emissions compared to conventional ammonia production processes.
The agricultural dimension of the partnership is significant for India, which is among the world’s top producers of corn, accounting for approximately 3 per cent of global annual output. Hemanshu Bhatt, Founder-Director of InSolare Energy, said the collaboration would accelerate the adoption of cost-effective green hydrogen solutions that directly support India’s National Green Hydrogen Mission targets. India’s government has set a target of producing five million metric tonnes of green hydrogen annually by 2030.
Renewable energy, including solar, wind, and hydropower, currently accounts for over 20 per cent of India’s energy needs, according to data from global energy think tank Ember. Wider green hydrogen adoption across industry and agriculture is expected to improve this share further.
The partnership also aligns with broader workforce development efforts at UD’s Center for Clean Hydrogen, whose director of workforce development Anil Bika visited the Indian Institutes of Technology in Delhi, Bombay, and Tirupati as part of a trade delegation to India, exploring collaborations on clean energy research and potential faculty, staff, and student exchange programmes.
