Oil India to set up green hydrogen plant in Assam

Oil India Ltd, the nation's second-largest state-owned oil explorer, is setting up a plant to manufacture green hydrogen at its Jorhat oilfield in Assam, the company said in a statement.

"To strengthen its bouquet of clean energy offerings", the company has initiated action for setting up a 100 kW green hydrogen plant at its Pump station-3 in Jorhat, it said.

The pilot plant will generate green hydrogen using AEM technology, it said without giving details. "This is a first of its kind project in the country."

Speaking on the occasion of the 'bhumi pujan' ceremony of the project, Pankaj Kumar Goswami, Director (Operations) said the hydrogen so generated will be blended with natural gas using the existing infrastructure.

Hydrogen being the cleanest form of energy is the latest focus area across the globe to satiate the rising energy needs. Green hydrogen is derived from water electrolysis using renewable energy like solar or wind.

Biomass-based hydrogen production technologies also qualify under the green category.

The government proposed the National Hydrogen Mission in the Union Budget 2021-22, initiating a hydrogen roadmap for the country. The mission was announced in August this year by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Under the Paris agreement (COP 21), by the year 2030, India is committed to reducing its greenhouse emissions by 33-35 per cent from the 2005 levels. This has necessitated finding alternative sources of cleaner energy.