SECI invites bids for setting up electrolyzer manufacturing capacities in India

The Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) on Saturday (March 16) invited bids for setting up electrolyzer manufacturing capacities under the second tranche of the Strategic Interventions for Green Hydrogen Transition (SIGHT) Programme.

As part of the bid, SECI has invited electrolyzer manufacturers to set up manufacturing capacities for electrolyzers to promote domestic manufacturing and production of green hydrogen in India.

As mentioned in the scheme guidelines, support will be provided for electrolyzer manufacturing in terms of Rs./kW corresponding to the manufacturing capacity where the base incentive will start with Rs. 4,440/kW in the first year and will gradually taper down on an annual basis. Further, the incentives will be provided for five years from the date of commencement of manufacturing electrolyzers.

To encourage indigenously developed technologies, bids in the second tranche of 1500MW will be called in three separate buckets:

Bucket     No. Description

1               Electrolyzer manufacturing capacity based on any stack technology

2A             Electrolyzer manufacturing capacity based on indigenously developed stack technology

2B             Electrolyzer manufacturing capacity based on indigenously developed stack technology-smaller units

The capacities will be allocated in separate buckets based on the stack technology proposed by the bidder:

Bucket        No.Capacity offered

1                  1100 MW

2A                300 MW

2B                100 MW

The electrolyzer manufacturers will be allowed 30 months from the date of issuance of the Letter of Award (LoA) for the commissioning of full manufacturing capacity.

In January 2023, the Union Cabinet approved the National Green Hydrogen Mission with an outlay of Rs.19,744 crore up to 2029-30. The SIGHT programme is a major financial measure under the mission, with an outlay of 17,490 crore. The programme proposes two distinct financial incentive mechanisms to support the domestic manufacturing of electrolyzers and production of green hydrogen. These incentives aim to enable rapid scale-up, technology development, and cost reduction.