Centre clears Rs 19,744-crore Nat'l Green Hydrogen Mission
New Delhi: The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the Rs 19,744-crore National Green Hydrogen Mission with an objective to become a major exporter in the field and make India a global hub for the production, utilisation, and export of Green Hydrogen and its derivatives.
The development will help India, one of the world's biggest greenhouse gas emitters, achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2070.
Briefing reporters about the Cabinet outcome, Union Minister Anurag Thakur said, "The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has approved National Green Hydrogen Mission."
The initial outlay for the mission is kept at Rs 19,744 crore. Out of this, the government has allocated Rs 17,490 crore for the SIGHT programme, Rs 1,466 for the upcoming pilot projects, Rs 400 crore for R&D, and Rs 388 crore towards other mission components.
The Centre expects the investments plan, totalling Rs 8 lakh crore in the green hydrogen sector, Thakur said while speaking to reporters.
The incentive aims to make green hydrogen affordable and bring down its cost over the next five years, the minister said.
MNRE or the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy will formulate the scheme guidelines for its implementation.
The National Green Hydrogen Mission will go a long way in government efforts toward building the renewable energy capacity of the country. The mission is expected to add about 125 GW of renewable energy capacity to the country. The addition will help to reduce our dependence on fossil fuel imports and through the mission, the government aims to reduce fuel imports by over Rs 1 lakh crore.
The main objective of the government is to develop a green hydrogen capacity of at least 5 MMT (million metric tonnes) per annum. The Union government also expects creation of more than 6 lakh jobs in the sector.
In line with our Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) targets, the government is looking at reducing 50 MMT of annual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.