Non-stop renewable energy key to lowering green hydrogen prices: Gentari CEO

In an interview, the CEO of the renewable energy arm of Malaysia’s energy major Petronas said that the green hydrogen ecosystem is still in its initial stages and will pick up pace going ahead with immense scope for its adoption.

“If you talk about hydrogen…you need to optimize everything. When you talk about hydrogen, you need to optimize renewable energy production. You need to optimize your electrolyzers, you need to make sure that your transport and shipping is optimized. You need to optimize everything to have the right cost, and that’s where we believe 24/7 power or close to that, is going to be key for having competitive hydrogen prices,” he said.

Currently, the cost of green hydrogen stands at around $5 per kg, and the high cost of the molecule remains a major impediment in terms of its growth in its mass adoption across industries. The Centre has made efforts to support producers and lower the cost by providing incentives under the National Green Hydrogen Mission. However, the growth has been slower-than-anticipated.

“I think it is taking up well, I mean, if you look at any industry, whether it is solar or whether it is battery, the start has always been slower, and I think green ammonia or green hydrogen is probably, to my mind, it is moving faster than many of these technologies moved in the beginning of their journey. I mean, you look at 10 years back where the solar prices were and then the solar uptake. And now, it’s a tremendous difference. So, we believe, going forward, we will see tremendous amount of growth in the hydrogen sector,” he said.

Policy and partnerships

The Gentari CEO further said that abundant renewable energy resources, interconnected power grid and policy support from industries are key factors to boost the sector in India and make the country a global leader in green hydrogen.

“We believe that it has tremendous opportunity in decarbonizing some of the hard-to-abate sectors, whether it is steel, refinery, chemical, shipping. I think these are the places hydrogen is going to be used. When you talk about India clearly, and if you look around the world, India is extremely well-positioned to become a leader in hydrogen economy.”

Purohit said that the company is in talks with several technology partners to source efficient electrolyzers for green hydrogen production.

The company has been working on green hydrogen projects with 200 kilotonne per annum capacity in India. It has signed two agreements for setting up green ammonia projects, a derivative work of green hydrogen, in Tuticorin, Tamil Nadu, and Mangalore, Karnataka.

Gentari is also a shareholder in green hydrogen and green ammonia producer AM Green, which aims to produce to 5 million tonne green anomia per annum by 2030, which is equivalent to 1 million tonne of green hydrogen.

Expanding green capacity

In terms of renewable energy capacity, Gentari has an overall renewable energy capacity of around 6 GW in India, including projects under operation and construction. It also includes the capacity of its commercial and industrial business subsidiary Amplus Solar.

Gentari is also working on a 650-MW round-the-clock (RTC) carbon-free energy project to power AMG Ammonia’s upcoming green ammonia facilities, under a long-term power purchase agreement. 

Under the arrangement, Gentari will set up approximately 2,400 MWp of renewable energy capacity in India and integrate it with 350 MW/2100 MWh energy storage to supply firm and dispatchable green power to AMG Ammonia’s facilities. Gentari plans to execute the project in the state of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.