Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Thursday said the petroleum and natural gas sector will drive the growth of green hydrogen in the country as industry players will produce and consume the clean energy source for multiple purposes.
The Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas also said that oil marketing companies (OMCs) have been directed to prepare a plan in the field of green hydrogen, which he said will be submitted to the Prime Minister's Office very soon.
The minister made the remarks while addressing reporters on the sidelines of '11th CII Bio-Energy Summit' in the national capital.
"I have always been a staunch believer that the success of green hydrogen will come from the petroleum and natural gas (PNG) sector for a variety of reasons (like) you have refineries which will produce and consume green hydrogen for a variety of PNG functions," he said.
On January 4, the Union Cabinet approved the National Green Hydrogen Mission with an outlay of Rs 19,744 crore to make India a global hub for the manufacturing of this clean source of energy.
The mission seeks to promote the development of a green hydrogen production capacity of at least 5 MMT (Million Metric Tonnes) per annum with an associated renewable energy capacity addition of about 125 GW in the country by 2030.
Puri further said that he recently called a meeting of OMCs with regard to developing a road map for the production of green hydrogen.
"I called my oil companies and said I want to be the first minister to submit to the PM (Narendra Modi) a plan on how these OMCs are going to deal with green hydrogen. I am very happy to announce that we will submit a plan very soon, " he said.
All of them are looking to transition towards green hydrogen in a very comprehensive way, Puri said without naming any company.