India Hydrogen Alliance (IH2A) and the Kerala state government are jointly evaluating a proposal to set up a $575 million green hydrogen hub in Kochi.
The hub is expected to house a 60 tonne per day hydrogen plant with a 150-megawatt (MW) electrolyser and other storage and infrastructure facilities, IH2A shared after a consultation meeting between the government, industry and funding agencies.
The Kochi hub is expected to create production, storage, transmission, and end-use infrastructure for green hydrogen within a 50km radius cluster in Kochi, it added.
Kerala had announced in April a plan to achieve zero emissions by 2050, while IH2A has a blueprint for developing hydrogen hubs in India by 2025.
Dr K A Abraham, Chief Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister, Government of Kerala, said, “Green Hydrogen is part of Kerala’s Net Zero Pathway. We are actively collaborating with industry and investors to replicate the hydrogen valleys in Europe, in Kerala. The proposed Kochi Green Hydrogen Hub is significant for its scale and its focus on building hydrogen infrastructure.”
The project focuses on the transport use case in the first phase, aligning with the state government’s plans for zero-emission transport to power Hydrogen-ICE retrofitted bus fleets of 60 buses and build the required infrastructure.
In the second phase, industrial demand for green hydrogen from refineries, fertilizer and chemical plants is expected to drive capacity expansion and scale up the KGH2 hub.
“The hub plan is a blueprint of how India can build large-scale, commercial green hydrogen infrastructure,” said Jill Evanko, chief executive and president of Chart Industries, and founding member of IH2A.
“Starting with the right scale of project development is important. It indicates India’s seriousness in building a domestic green hydrogen economy and its role in shaping the emerging global green hydrogen market,” Evanko added.
IH2A has also proposed a two-tier KGH2 governance structure, with a public-private advisory group working with project consortia structures or special purpose vehicles (SPVs), to implement the proposed plan. IH2A will continue to advise the Government of Kerela on hydrogen commercialisation and project development in the state.