JSW Energy Ltd. is setting up India's largest 25-megawatt green hydrogen project in Vijayanagar, Karnataka for its group company JSW Steel Ltd. to manufacture green steel.
“The work on the 3,800 tonne per annum pilot project has started and is likely to be commissioned by the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025,” Sharad Mahendra, joint managing director and chief executive officer of JSW Energy, told NDTV Profit in an interview.
The company plans to be future ready as a major supplier of green energy and has signed a memorandum of understanding with JSW Steel to supply additional 90,000 tonne per annum, or TPA, of green hydrogen and 7,20,000 TPA of oxygen by 2030, Mahendra said.
Given the green hydrogen project is co-located at the JSW Steel plant, the company has managed to save on storage cost. “The hydrogen will be supplied through pipelines, that will help us save on storage cost,” the top executive said.
Projects without storage are 20-25% cheaper compared to storage projects that are far away from the customers project site, he said.
Pricing of green hydrogen is still much higher, which raises questions over its viability. Cost of a green hydrogen project is around 30% more than a solar project of the same size. Grey hydrogen, on the other hand, comes at less than one-third the cost of green hydrogen and is the first choice for customers. However, India's net zero target of 2070, with several mid term targets, has nudged companies to take steps to transition to cleaner fuel.
The company was also allotted 6,800 tonne per annum capacity by Solar Energy Corp. of India under the Strategic Interventions for Green Hydrogen Transition.
JSW Energy does not intend to restrict itself to captive hydrogen projects, but plans to be a leading supplier of green hydrogen and downstream products at commercial level as well, with products becoming economical, he said.
Setting Up India's Largest Battery Storage Project
The power generator is also setting up India's largest battery energy storage system project of 1 gigawatt per hour in Rajasthan. Awarded by SECI, the project is expected to be commissioned by June 2025, Mahendra said.
The project consists of two installations each with 500 MWh storage capacity, that have been designed for two hours of storage in one cycle. The project will be developed under the build own operate and transfer mechanism and will be transferred to SECI after 12 years.
The investments over the green hydrogen and the battery energy storage projects will be part of the $12 billion or Rs 1 lakh crore announced for reaching 20 gigawatt generation target before 2030.
The company has a locked-in generation capacity of 13.3 gigawatt, of which 7.3 gigawatt is operational and 2.6 gigawatt is under construction across wind, thermal and hydro electric projects. It has a pipeline of 3.4 gigawatt.
The diversified power company plans to achieve its 20 gigawatt generation target much faster than the 2030 timeline announced earlier and will come out with revised timelines and investment targets soon, he said.
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