5 Indian Companies that are Leading the Green Hydrogen Revolution

Editor’s note: India’s leading green hydrogen companies are once again in focus and buzzing with a lot of activity.

The Narendra Modi government today approved an initial outlay of Rs 197.4 billion (bn) for the National Hydrogen Mission. The mission was launched by the Prime Minister in the Independence day speech in 2021.

According to estimates, the demand for hydrogen is expected to see a five-fold jump by 2050. The initial outlay should help in a big way for India to capture most of the demand.

It also bodes well for companies investing heavily in the green hydrogen technology.

Continue reading to know more about the National Green Hydrogen mission. You can find the key points discussed towards the end of this article.

5 Stocks that are Leading the Green Hydrogen Revolution

If you thought the hype around green hydrogen was over, think again.

NITI Aayog, the Indian government's think tank recently released a report titled 'Harnessing Green Hydrogen-Opportunities for Deep Carbonisation in India'.

The report has a detailed plan on how the entire green hydrogen value chain could function.

Sounds promising, doesn't it? Especially for green energy and green hydrogen stocks.

The report has the following suggestions -

1. Three hydrogen corridors should be developed across the country based on state grand challenges.
2. State government should provide grants and loans to start-ups and projects, support entrepreneurs through incubators and investor networks, and put in place regulations that manage first-mover risks.
3. The government must use public procurement and purchase incentives (for green hydrogen) to create demand in niche markets and attract private investment, while promoting export of green hydrogen and green hydrogen-embedded products through a global hydrogen alliance.

Besides these, it also pushed for the need to facilitate investment through demand aggregation and dollar-based bidding for green hydrogen.

With these suggestions out there, it is only a matter of time before the government will roll out more incentives and policy changes to support the transition to green hydrogen.

Earlier in November 2021, we wrote to you about the top Indian companies leading the green hydrogen revolution. These companies still have the first mover advantage.

Take a look.

5 Indian Companies that are Leading the Green Hydrogen Revolution

Move over EVs, green hydrogen is here.

The environment-friendly gas has recently caught the fancy of the largest conglomerates and governments around the world as they try to pivot to a more sustainable source of energy.

Over 30 countries have released hydrogen roadmaps, 200+ hydrogen projects, and ambitious investment plans.

The Indian government is not far behind.

As green power takes precedence in the global scheme of things, the Indian government has already kick-started its green hydrogen journey.

On Independence Day this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, flagged the launch of a National Hydrogen Mission and announced his decision to transform India into a global hub for green hydrogen production and export.

But wait, what is green hydrogen?

Green hydrogen is hydrogen that is produced with the help of electrolysis through electricity generated from renewable sources of energy such as solar and wind.

In electrolysis, an electric current splits water into hydrogen and oxygen.

At present, the country's entire production of hydrogen comes from fossil fuels. However, by 2050, three-fourth of all hydrogen is projected to be green.

The government is also looking at a proposal to make it mandatory for fertilizer plants, oil refineries and steel plants to use green hydrogen.

It plans to make it mandatory for select industries to use green hydrogen to meet 15% of their total hydrogen requirements by 2024.

Companies in India have already started making the switch.

Here are 5 companies that are leading the green hydrogen revolution.

#1 Reliance

Reliance, one of the largest generators of grey hydrogen, the impure kind, plans to go green.

The company recently announced its plans to become a net carbon-zero firm by 2035. It aims to replace transportation fuels with clean electricity and hydrogen.

The conglomerate said that will invest Rs 750 bn over the next three years in renewable energy, including a 5,000-acre, green energy integrated complex called Dhirubhai Ambani Green Energy Giga Complex in Jamnagar, Gujarat.

The complex will include manufacturing units for solar cells and modules, a battery unit for energy storage, a fuel cell-making factory and an electrolyser plant to produce green hydrogen.

The company is also seeking partners to bring new and advanced technology to India.

Reliance (RIL) recently partnered with Danish company Stiesdal A/S through its subsidiary Reliance New Energy Solar (RNESL) to develop and manufacture hydrogen electrolysers.

Through this agreement, RNESL and Stiesdal will combine their strengths and capabilities and collaborate to further advance the technology development of hydrogen electrolysers.

Analysts have estimated that RIL will build a 2.5-gigawatt (GW) electrolyser manufacturing unit.

The electrolyser gigafactory will manufacture modular electrolysers for the production of green hydrogen for domestic use as well as for international sales.

While this will be expensive (the cost of green hydrogen is around US$ 3.6-5.8/kg), the company's chairman, Mukesh Ambani, plans to produce hydrogen at "under US$ 1 per 1 kilogram within a decade."

Update: Reliance has said that it plans to bid for any production-linked incentives the government may offer to encourage the technology,

#2 GAIL

State-owned GAIL(India) also has ambitious plans with respect to green hydrogen.

The company plans to build India's largest green hydrogen plant as it looks to supplement ?its natural gas business with carbon-free fuel.

At a recent event, GAIL chairman and managing director Manoj Jain said that the company has floated a global tender to procure an electrolyser.

He added that the company has finalised 2-3 sites for the unit including one at Vijaipur in Madhya Pradesh. It will take 12-14 months to set up the plant.

The plant planned will have a capacity of 10 MW (megawatts), the largest announced so far in the country.

GAIL has already started mixing hydrogen in natural gas in one of the cities, on a pilot basis. The company is testing the mix percentage before it scales it up.

The hydrogen that GAIL plans to produce can be sold to fertiliser units which as per government mandate are required to use hydrogen as fuel.

Update: GAIL has awarded the contract to set up the PEM-based project in Madhya Pradesh. The project has been designed to produce around 4.3 metric tonnes of hydrogen per day with a purity of about 99.9%.

#3 NTPC

Just like GAIL, NTPC plans to produce green hydrogen on a commercial scale.

The company plans to do that from its upcoming 4,750 MW renewable energy park at the Rann of Kutch. The capacity of the plant will be 5 MW (megawatts).

Currently, NTPC is running a pilot project in its Vindhyanchal unit, where the cost of hydrogen is estimated to be around US$ 2.8-3/kg.

This is expected to fall going forward through economies of scale.

NTPC also plans to set up its first green hydrogen fuelling station in Leh, Ladakh. It will ply 5 hydrogen buses, to start with.

This will put Leh as the first city in the country to implement a green hydrogen-based mobility project.

NTPC has been aggressively pushing for greening its portfolio and the green hydrogen project is another step towards achieving a low carbon footprint.

NTPC has also been promoting the usage of green hydrogen-based solutions in sectors like mobility, energy, chemical, fertilizer, steel etc.

The company has recently revised its target of achieving 60 GW renewables capacity by 2032, almost doubling the earlier target.

Update: NTPC has awarded the green hydrogen fuelling station project in Leh, Ladakh to Amara Raja Power Systems.

#4 Indian Oil

Another PSU that plans to tap into the green hydrogen opportunity is Indian Oil.

The nation's largest fossil fuel retailer, recently announced its plans to build a green hydrogen plant at its Mathura refinery in Uttar Pradesh. The unit is likely to have a capacity of around 160,000 barrels per day.

It will wheel the power from its wind power project in Rajasthan to its Mathura refinery to produce absolutely green hydrogen through electrolysis.

It also plans to come up with a stand-alone green hydrogen manufacturing unit in Kochi that will draw energy from the solar power facility of the Kochi International Airport.

Kochi is the world's first fully solar-powered airport with a total capacity of 40 MW. The idea is to run hydrogen buses from Cochin airport to Thiruvananthapuram.

Indian Oil has set a target of converting at least 10% of its hydrogen consumption at refineries to green hydrogen soon.

As a first step towards this, 10% of the usage in the Mathura refinery will be converted to green sources by 2024.

Update: Indian Oil, Larsen & Toubro (L&T), and ReNew Power have formed a JV to focus on developing green hydrogen projects in a time-bound manner to supply green hydrogen at an industrial scale.

Additionally, Indian Oil and L&T have formed a JV to manufacture and sell electrolyzers used in the production of green hydrogen.

#5 Larsen and Toubro (L&T)

Engineering major, L&T, also plans to foray into the green hydrogen space.

The company has announced that it will set up a green hydrogen plant at its Hazira complex, which is slated to be completed this financial year.

It also plans to put up a few more green hydrogen plants in its other manufacturing units.

Apart from this, it is currently evaluating the possibility of manufacturing electrolysers.

At the latest press conference, L&T's Director and Senior Executive Vice President (Energy), Subramanian Sarma said that it was very much on the cards and that an announcement could come as soon as this financial year.

In its latest annual report, L&T said that it aims to be net-zero emissions by 2040.

90% of this would come from switching over to initiatives such as renewable energy, green hydrogen and biodiesel while the other 10% would be offset by creating carbon sinks.

The company plans to spend between Rs 10-50 bn on its green initiatives, spread over a number of years.

What are the challenges ahead for the adoption of green hydrogen?

While policy and power market regulations released by the government are expected to boost green hydrogen development in the country, the truth is that the industry has a number of challenges to overcome.

You see, hydrogen research in the country, in general, is underfunded.

In the NDA's 2020-21 budget, only Rs 250 m was allocated to the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy for hydrogen-related R&D.

In comparison, 700 million euros were offered by the German government to firms working on green hydrogen alone.

To add to this, producing green hydrogen is an expensive undertaking with the biggest cost being the electrolyser. The membrane-electrode unit accounts for 60% to 70% of its cost while precious metals account for the rest.

Manufacturing at a greater scale could reduce these costs but since demand is limited, production capacities are yet low.

Hydrogen is also an expensive fuel to move. The gas needs to be cooled to -252℃ before transportation. While it can be stored as ammonia, a more stable form, reconversion is expensive.

Should you include green hydrogen stocks in your portfolio?

Here are a few reasons why green hydrogen stocks offer a good opportunity to investors.

India's current energy import bill is over US$160 bn (Rs 12 tn) a year. The continued coal and oil dependency will increase this amount by 2-3 times.

To cut down expenses and reduce this dependency, sustainable sources of energy like green hydrogen will become more of a necessity than a choice in the near future. The government's nudge is another area that is creating an opportunity for the sector.

It recently announced a draft policy mandating that green hydrogen account for 10% of the overall hydrogen needs of refiners by 2023-24. For the fertiliser sector, the requirement is around 15%.

It also plans to increase its non-fossil energy capacity to 500 GW by 2030 and meet 50% of its energy requirements from renewable energy by 2030.

While the above-mentioned reasons are compelling, one must view green hydrogen energy stocks with the same amount of caution as one would view other stocks. Sustained research must not be compromised despite the positive odds.

India's Green Hydrogen Mission 2023

India has taken its first steps towards making green hydrogen a reality. The Union Cabinet has formally approved the Green Hydrogen Mission, which is aimed at making India a global hub for the environment friendly fuel.

Here are five things you should know about the mission -

1. The total outlay for the mission is Rs 197.4 billion (bn), out of which the government has allocated Rs 174.9 bn for the SIGHT programme, Rs 14.6 bn for the upcoming pilot projects, Rs 4 bn for R&D, and Rs 3.8 bn towards other mission components.
2. The mission will facilitate demand creation, production, utilisation and export of green hydrogen. Under the Strategic Interventions for Green Hydrogen Transition Programme (SIGHT), two distinct financial incentive mechanisms - targeting domestic manufacturing of electrolysers and production of green hydrogen - will be provided under the mission.
3. The mission has targeted a green hydrogen production capacity of at least 5 MMT (Million Metric Tonnes) per annum and an associated renewable energy capacity addition of about 125 GW by 2030.
4. It envisages an investment of over Rs 8 trillion (tn) and creation of over 600,000 jobs by 2030.
5. The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy will be responsible for the overall coordination and implementation of the mission

How this pans out remains to be seen. Meanwhile stay tuned for more updates from this space.

To know what's moving the Indian stock markets today, check out the most recent share market updates here.

Disclaimer: This article is for information purposes only. It is not a stock recommendation and should not be treated as such. Learn more about our recommendation services here...

FAQs on Green Hydrogen Stocks

1) What is green hydrogen?

Green hydrogen is hydrogen that is produced with the help of electrolysis through electricity generated from renewable sources of energy such as solar and wind.

In electrolysis, an electric current splits water into hydrogen and oxygen.

2) Which companies make green hydrogen in India?

Since green hydrogen would replace traditional fuel, some of the biggest companies in India have already started making the shift.

At present, companies like GAIL, NTPC, Reliance Industries, Adani Enterprises, Indian Oil, Larsen & Toubro, Oil India, and BPCL have laid out plans to produce green hydrogen in India.

These companies are capable of producing green hydrogen at competitive prices.

3) Which are the best green hydrogen stocks in India?

Oil India, GAIL, IOC, NTPC, L&T, Reliance Industries, BPCL and Adani Enterprises are the best green hydrogen stocks in India.

Check out Equitymaster's Indian stock screener to compare these companies on various metrics.

You can also take a look at our extensive guide to investing in green hydrogen stocks.