New policy to cut green hydrogen cost by 40-50pc: IOC

India’s largest oil firm IOC will set up ‘green hydrogen’ plants at its Mathura and Panipat refineries by 2024 to replace carbon-emitting units as it sees the just announced green hydrogen policy as a watershed moment in the country’s energy transition that will help cut costs.

SSV Ramakumar, Director for Research and Development at Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), says the new policy will help cut the cost of manufacturing green hydrogen by 40-50 per cent.

“This (policy) is the single biggest enabler by the state for production of green hydrogen,” he said.

Oil refineries, fertiliser plants and steel units use hydrogen as process fuel to produce finished products.

In refineries, hydrogen is used to remove excess sulphur from petrol and diesel. This hydrogen presently is produced from fossil fuels such as natural gas or naphtha and results in carbon emissions.

IOC plans to replace this ‘grey hydrogen’ with ‘green hydrogen’ - also referred to as ‘clean hydrogen’ - by using electricity from renewable energy sources, such as solar or wind power, to split water into two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom through a process called electrolysis.