‘There is a renewed interest in Green Hydrogen globally’
Italian energy infrastructure operator Snam and renewable energy firm Greenko have signed an agreement to cooperate in supporting the development of the hydrogen value chain in India.
They will collaborate on the study of hydrogen production methods from renewables, design of hydrogen-ready infrastructure as well as on potential final applications in both industry and transport, including fuel cell mobility.
Announcing the agreement, a Greenko statement on Friday said there was a renewed and rapidly growing interest in Green Hydrogen (Green-H2) globally. A unique multi-functional gas, Hydrogen can be used as a feedstock, fuel, or an energy carrier or storage solution.
While the list of potential applications is long, there is a strong push in applications like Fuel Cell electric vehicles and energy storage. In the near term, the opportunity in hydrogen is in large industrial applications like steel, refining, methanol, and ammonia. Green-H2 creates an attractive value-addition opportunity for the growing renewable energy sector, creating a new offtake segment with multi-GW potential.
This opportunity can accelerate growth in the sector and play a significant role in realizing India’s 450 GW renewable energy target by 2030, the release said.
Greenko Group has a current asset base of $8 billion. It owns and operates solar, wind and hydro projects with a total operating capacity of around 6.5 GW spread across about 100 projects. Japan’s ORIX Corporation had recently entered into a framework agreement to make an investment of at least $980 million to acquire a stake in Greenko Energy Holdings. The release said Snam has the largest natural gas transmission network and storage capacity among European peers and one of the main operators in regasification. Snam is investing invests euro 1.4 bn in the SnamTec project focused on innovation and new energy transition businesses such as sustainable mobility, biomethane, and energy efficiency. It also aims to enable and promote the development of hydrogen to foster decarbonization in the energy sector and industries.