The country's biggest refiner, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Larsen & Toubro, and Goldman Sachs-backed renewable energy generator ReNew Power will form a joint venture to develop the green hydrogen industry, which will help India reduce its carbon emissions.
According to a joint statement released on Monday, the three companies have signed a binding term sheet to collaboratively develop green hydrogen projects.
India, the world's third-largest carbon dioxide emitter, wants to create 5 million tonnes of green hydrogen annually by 2030 in order to satisfy its climate goals and establish itself as a manufacturing and export powerhouse for the fuel.
Indian firms, notably Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani, the country's richest men, had already declared ambitions to manufacture green hydrogen.
IOC and L&T, a state-owned refinery and engineering and construction corporation, inked a binding term sheet to form a joint venture to manufacture electrolysers, which are utilised in the production of green hydrogen.
Green hydrogen has some of the finest environmental credentials among cleaner-burning fuels, and it will be utilised in refineries to transform crude oil into value-added products like gasoline and diesel, replacing carbon-emitting fuels.
For manufacturing green hydrogen, an electrolyser splits water into hydrogen and oxygen using renewable energy sources such as solar or wind.
According to S.M. Vaidya, chairman of IOC, the cooperation would initially focus on green hydrogen projects at IOC's Mathura and Panipat refineries in northern India, as well as evaluating developing other green hydrogen projects around the country.
India also intends to provide federal financial assistance for the installation of electrolysers, with the goal of making the use of green hydrogen essential in refineries and fertiliser factories.
According to the statement, India's refining sector utilises roughly 2 million tonnes of grey hydrogen, which is produced by using gas rather than renewable energy.
"The Indian Oil-L&T-ReNew joint venture will focus on establishing Green Hydrogen projects in a time-bound way to supply Green Hydrogen on an industrial scale," stated L&T CEO S N Subrahmanyan.