Delay in green hydrogen policy in Rajasthan may hit Rs 4 lakh-crore investments – EQ Mag
The fate of Rs 4 lakh-crore investment is hanging in the balance as the state government is yet to rollout the green hydrogen policy that has been languishing at the draft stage for more than six months.
Five companies have already registered with Rajasthan Renewable Energy Corporation Ltd (RRECL) to set up 2610 kilo-tonne projects of green hydrogen which will fetch cumulative investments of around 4 lakh-crore.
Following the central policy in February 2022, the state government started consultations with the industry from March to prepare the policy. The final draft was finalized in September but since then it has been a long wait.
The industry fears that if the policy is not approved in a month or so, it would be difficult for the government to go ahead, given the state elections which are due.
“Actually, the process started about a year ago and we still don’t have a policy. We want it in a month or so. We have seen in the past that when a new party takes over, it reviews the decisions of the previous government taken in the six months prior to the code of conduct. We do not want to be in such a situation,” said one of the companies registered for setting up a green hydrogen project.
The solar industry does not want a repeat of what happened to the equipment manufacturing sector in the past. Despite having the largest installed capacity of solar plants in the country, the equipment manufacturing failed to take off. Only recently, ReNew power started working on two facilities to make solar panels having 4000 MW capacity.
Sunil Bansal, president of Rajasthan Solar Association said, “We cannot afford to miss the bus this time. Green hydrogen is going to be a very big segment. The projects are crucial for Rajasthan as they will create innumerable backward and forward linkage industries, creating immense opportunities for all types of players in the sectors.”
Recently, the chief minister also spoke about how solar equipment manufacturing is critical to take full advantage of the strengths that Rajasthan has in the sector. Now, the industry feels the focus should be on green hydrogen.
According to government officials, the draft needs to be changed keeping in view the Rajasthan Industrial Policy-2022. But the companies said that RIPS was announced in October 2022 and changes could have been done in a month if the government had paid attention to the sector.
Renewable energy power constitutes 70 per cent of the operating cost in green hydrogen production. Green hydrogen is used in hard to abate sectors like refinery, fertilizer, cement, steel and other.
Source: PTI
