Driven by global demand, government incentives and technological progress, India is poised to emerge as a key player in the green hydrogen space, not only as a user of green hydrogen, but also as an exporter and a manufacturing hub. While the National Green Hydrogen Mission (NGHM) has provided an impetus to the sector, concerns persist around cost viability, the limited readiness of electrolyser supply chains and weak offtake bankability. Against this backdrop, the 25th annual conference on “Gas in India” organised by Indian Infrastructure hosted a panel discussion on green hydrogen with several senior industry stakeholders. The panellists discussed the status of their projects, ongoing initiatives and the future outlook. Edited excerpts…
Bhaskar Bose
We have completed multiple field deliveries, including supply for an integrated green ethanol plant using flue gas, as well as pipeline supply to Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) and NTPC Limited for their mobility project in NETRA.
At NTPC’s NETRA research and development site, we are producing hydrogen from treated sewage water, converting it into demineralised water, compressing and storing it in cascades, and dispensing it for fuel-cell buses.
A similar large-scale mobility project has also been commissioned in Leh, Ladakh. Operating these plants has highlighted the practical complexities of running hydrogen systems on variable renewable power. Continuous plant operation under fluctuating generation profiles introduces challenges related to system stabilisation, hydrogen purity, pressure management and safe handling. The experience gained from these deployments is now informing the next set of projects in Jackson Green Infinity’s development pipeline.
Furthermore, these early implementations underscore the importance of real-world operating data in refining plant design, control systems and safety protocols.
Prashant Choubey
We have evolved from a pure renewable energy independent power producer (IPP) into a diversified clean energy conglomerate with businesses spanning renewable power generation, solar photovoltaic (PV) manufacturing, green hydrogen and derivatives, green data centres, battery storage and pumped hydro projects.
At Gopalpur in Odisha, we are developing a 0.5 mtpa green ammonia project, which has progressed to an advanced technical stage with pre-front-end engineering design completed and engineering, procurement and construction activities underway.
At the site level, the Odisha government’s proactive land and port corridor planning provides a significant advantage. A dedicated corridor linking the plant to port infrastructure is under construction. The company has executed a 300 MW power banking agreement with Gridco and has secured 700 MW of interstate transmission system drawl GNA, ensuring firm renewable availability.
Given that renewable energy typically accounts for 65-70 per cent of the input cost for green fuel production, securing generation and banking upfront has been critical to project viability. The immediate constraint remains demand and offtake visibility, highlighting the need for policy interventions such as hydrogen purchase obligations and large tenders to create predictable, long-term revenue streams.
Green methanol is also rapidly emerging as the most practical near-term solution for decarbonising hard-to-abate sectors, particularly shipping, petrochemicals, etc. If India acts now, it can secure a first-mover advantage in supplying green methanol to global maritime and chemical markets.
Project viability from renewable energy supply perspective depends on multiple factors: firm renewable configuration, transmission design and peak-hour supply management. While daytime solar and complementary wind can meet most of the energy demand, the four to five peak evening hours remain challenging.
Odisha’s decision to allow power banking for green hydrogen and ammonia projects has been a key enabler. Projects at this scale require renewable volumes and grid coordination that exceed standard state transmission capacity. Avaada is combining ISTS and state networks to ensure a reliable supply.
With respect to costs, green ammonia is approaching price parity with grey ammonia, making India increasingly competitive. Short-term uncertainties, such as policy adjustments in the US and harmonisation issues with Europe around additionality, temporal requirements and bidding zones, have emerged. Shipping market delays and cancelled tenders in South Korea have also introduced temporary challenges.
Despite this, India’s policy framework and growing supply ecosystem can ensure that exports become competitive, particularly to Europe and East Asia.
Harish Jayaram
Early operational plants provide the clearest evidence of what works and what requires refinement. We commissioned India’s first commercial green hydrogen plant in March 2024 and it has operated reliably for roughly 20 months, supplying hydrogen to a stainless-steel operation.
A second commercial plant has also been commissioned at the Shendra MIDC in Aurangabad, Maharashtra. These projects have long-tenure, 20-year fixed-price contracts for small industrial offtakers, typically between 100 and 500 tonnes per annum (tpa), demonstrating that delivered hydrogen can already be commercially viable in select use cases, with delivered cost to those customers below $5 per kg.
We were awarded incentives under the NGHM to produce green hydrogen a couple of years ago, which are now being deployed on the ground. At present, we are developing commercial and industrial projects to supply green hydrogen to industrial customers, and execution on these projects is underway.
On the export side, we are developing a green ammonia project at Gopalpur in Odisha, planned in three phases, with an overall capacity exceeding 1.1 million mtpa. We already have offtake commitments from customers in Europe, and Hygenco obtained RFNBO pre-certification under the European Union certification framework earlier in 2025.
In parallel, we are engaging with potential offtakers in Japan and are working closely with Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry to assess cost-effective pathways for exporting green ammonia from India to Japan.
Within India, we are actively participating in refinery tenders for green hydrogen supply. In the most recent BPCL tender, we emerged as the L2 bidder. Till date, around 20 kilo tpa of green hydrogen capacity has been awarded across refineries, including Indian Oil Corporation Limited’s Panipat refinery, BPCL and HPCL’s Vizag refinery.
Looking ahead, we expect this tendering activity to accelerate, with an estimated 80-100 ktpa likely to be tendered over the next 18 months.
Beyond refineries, we are beginning to see early traction in the steel sector. Other segments, such as mobility and hydrogen blending, are also emerging, although further policy and commercial clarity will be required.
From a logistics and export perspective, we have signed MoUs with several ports in India, including Kandla Port, and are working closely with the port ecosystem at Gopalpur for our ammonia project. Additionally, we have entered into MoUs with overseas port operators in Europe to support green ammonia export from India.
Arnava Sinha
We have secured the Solar Energy Corporation of India’s (SECI) green ammonia fertiliser award for 370,000 metric tonnes per annum (mtpa) that we plan to develop in Paradeep, Odisha, and, in parallel, we are developing a 400,000 mtpa project in Gopalpur, Odisha with the IHI Corporation, our Japanese partner.
With respect to financing, we are engaging with lenders, both domestic and international, to secure low-cost finance. A consortium led by the IHI Corporation, is enabling access to lower-cost capital routed from Japan for the Gopalpur project.
Price discovery from SECI’s recent green ammonia auction for the fertiliser industry has been transformative. The price discovered in India currently stands at about $600 per tonne of green ammonia, which is roughly 60 per cent of the $1,000 per tonne price discovered under H2Global’s tender three years ago.
Furthermore, the low price has attracted international interest and has positioned India as a cost-competitive potential exporter to markets in Asia and Europe.
We are therefore designing projects with dual domestic and export routing in mind: domestic offtake for fertiliser and refinery customers, and export supply chains for ammonia and derivatives.
This price discovery has been enabled by a combination of factors rather than any single intervention. The initial supply-side push following the announcement of the NGHM led to rapid ecosystem development, particularly in domestic electrolyser manufacturing and project readiness.
However, demand-side signals remained limited until the recent SECI tender created scale and visibility. Large tender volumes, coupled with central and state-level incentives and incremental process and design innovations by developers, have collectively driven costs down.
Looking at the prices discovered in the SECI ammonia tender and comparing ahead, over a 10-15 year horizon, India’s green ammonia levelised price is expected to remain at par with, or potentially more competitive than, grey ammonia prices.
