Greenko eyes BPCL hydrogen after NRL win
Hyderabad-based renewable energy company Greenko Group has joined the race to set up a green hydrogen production facility for Bharat Petroleum after bidding lowest for a similar job from Oil India subsidiary Numaligarh Refinery (NRL).
Greenko, Mumbai-based HAL Offshore and Germany's Linde are competing for a green hydrogen project for BPCL at its 7.8m t/y joint venture refinery at Bina in Madhya Pradesh. BPCL wants to produce 400-kg/day or 2600 tonnes/year of green hydrogen at the Bina refinery.
Greenko is emerging as an aggressive bidder for such work after bidding lowest when NRL opened price bids in the first week of February (2023) to set up a facility to produce 300-kg/hour or 2400 tonnes/year of green hydrogen, quoting Rs150cr ($18m). Next was HAL, quoting Rs200cr ($24m); L&T quoted Rs350cr ($42m).
NRL's internal project estimate was Rs200cr ($24m). Greenko will get 24 months from the LoA date to design, engineer, supply, install and commission the facility.
Still unclear is which solar power producer will provide NRL with electricity for the project. Greenko claims to have built the world's largest solar park at Kurnool in Andhra Pradesh and says it is "replacing fossil fuels with integrated decarbonised energy and grid assets" with a net installed capacity of 7.5-GW across 15 Indian states.
Green hydrogen is produced by splitting water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen using electricity from renewable sources such as wind or solar. Until now, Indian refineries have used grey hydrogen, produced from methane using high-temperature steam, which generates greenhouse gas.
In refineries, companies can use hydrogen feedstock to remove sulphur from the fuels they produce. NRL and BPCL's tenders come as the power ministry announced a target for India to produce 5m t/y of green hydrogen by 2030, announced on February 17 (2023).
BPCL might also set up green hydrogen production facilities at its 12m t/y refinery in Mumbai and 15.5m t/y refinery in Kochi. "No decision has yet been taken," says a company source.
"But eventually, these refineries will have green hydrogen facilities." HPCL has awarded a project to produce 442 t/y green hydrogen at its 8.3m t/y Vizag refinery to Noida-based Eastern Electrolyser, which will use technology from China's PERIC.
IndianOil chairman SM Vaidya announced plans on February 26 (2023) to produce green hydrogen at all its refineries.