GAIL awards contract to set up largest PEM- based green H2 project in India

State-run gas utility GAIL has announced that in line with the National Hydrogen Mission, it has awarded a contract to set up one of the largest Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) Electrolyser in India.

The project would be installed at GAIL's Vijaipur Complex, in Guna District of Madhya Pradesh, and would be based on renewable power.

"The project has been designed to produce around 4.3 tonnes of Hydrogen per day (around 10-megawatt capacity) with a purity of about 99.999 percent volume. It is scheduled to be commissioned by November 2023. In line with the vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat, the project has been awarded to a vendor having a domestic value addition of more than 50 percent," the company said in a statement.

Earlier, in January this year, GAIL had commenced India's project of mixing Hydrogen into the Natural Gas system. Hydrogen blended Natural Gas is being supplied to one of GAIL's Joint Venture (JV) companies with HPCL- Avantika Gas (AGL), which is a City Gas Distribution (CGD) company operating in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, it added.

To date, GAIL has been successful in blending up to 2 percent (v/v) hydrogen in natural gas in the CGD network.

These initiatives reflect GAIL's commitment to support a gas-based economy and to contribute toward a greener, cleaner, carbon-neutral and self-reliant future.

The hydrogen produced by GAIL can be sold to fertilizer units which as per government mandate are required to use hydrogen as fuel. The company is also looking at newer avenues to boost business including pushing for use of LNG as fuel in long-haul trucking.

According to analysts, for India to achieve its target of raising the share of natural gas in the energy mix to 15 percent by 2030 from the present around 6.5 percent, the consumption has to rise by about three times to 600 million standard cubic metres per day (MSCM