Indian multinational Larsen & Toubro (L&T) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Norwegian electrolyser manufacturer Hydrogenpro to investigate the manufacture of gigawatt-scale alkaline electrolysers in India.

Hydrogenpro is already setting up a production factory in Tianjin, China as it looks to capitalise on emerging markets for green hydrogen. It is targeting a production cost for green hydrogen of $1.2/kg in 2022.

“We are extremely pleased to enter this MoU with L&T, an engineering and construction powerhouse which is the perfect partner to establish Hydrogenpro in the Indian market,” says Hydrogenpro CEO Elling Nygaard.

India has low solar generation costs and a target to install 175GW of renewables by 2022 and 500GW by 2030. 

500 GW – India’s 2030 renewables target

The country’s green hydrogen mission, which calls for investment upward of $60bn, estimates domestic green hydrogen demand could grow to reach 2mn t/yr by 2030. The demand is expected to come from hard-to-abate industrial sectors, transport applications and the blending of hydrogen into the gas grid.

The mission was announced last year by prime minister Narendra Modi, with INR250mn ($3.4mn) allocated for research and development across 2021-22.

“The energy industry is undergoing a tectonic shift, with green hydrogen emerging as a key fuel in the future energy basket,” says L&T CEO Sekharipuram Subrahmanyan.

Clean Energy Partnerships

The US, UK and EU all have climate technology partnerships with India.

The biggest tranche of financing has come from the UK, which has announced a $1.2bn package of private and public investment into renewable energy and other climate-related projects last year.

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Author: Tom Young