Petronas scouts for 10K acres for green H2, ammonia units

CHENNAI: Petronas is in the process of identifying land for its proposed green hydrogen and ammonia plants in Tamil Nadu, highly placed sources in the Tamil Nadu government said.

The Malaysia-based firm, which had signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Tamil Nadu government in July 2022, is understood to be eyeing a land parcel measuring as vast as 10,000 acres for developing its proposed Green Hydrogen and Ammonia plant in the State.

“They (Petronas) are examining the land availability. Their land requirement is in the range of 10,000 acres for the green hydrogen and ammonia plant. They also need solar plants to support and operate the plants. Other similar investors have found southern Tamil Nadu to be viable for such projects,” a highly placed State government official told DT Next.

“The government can offer two kinds of support to them. Either capital subsidy or turnover subsidy. They must tell the government what they prefer,” the officer added, before revealing that the proposed investment by Japan-based Mitsubishi was also in the advanced stage of signing the MoU.

“Mitsubishi has sought the approval of the government. It must be placed before the Cabinet for approval. It is in the advanced stage of signing MoU,” the officer added.

Significantly, the land identification for Petronas and Mitsubishi approval was understood to have featured in the discussion between Chief Minister MK Stalin and a delegation of the state industries led by its minister Thangam Thennarasu who attended the Davos summit of the World Economic Forum.

Industries Minister Thangam Thennarasu, Industries Secretary S Krishnan and CEO of Guidance Tamil Nadu Pooja Kulkarni were learnt to have apprised the CM about the people they met at the summit and the proposals they pitched for GIM 2024 in Chennai on behalf of the state government.

“What kind of engagement the TN delegation had at the WEF summit, the state’s partnership with the forum, the kind of reception at the Tamil Nadu pavilion, etc were apprised to the CM,” government sources added.