New Delhi: The government of Kerala has received proposals from two large companies for setting up green hydrogen and green ammonia production plants, its export, and also for domestic use.
One of the companies has proposed to export one lakh tonnes of green ammonia to Germany from the Vizhinjam Adani port. It plans to set up an integrated renewable energy project which would meet round-the-clock (RTC) energy requirements of the green ammonia plant.
The integrated renewable energy project, the company says, will be a solar installation paired with a pumped hydro storage facility within the state.
It will be a first-of-its-kind project in Kerala with flexibility to support state power utilities for their peak hour requirements. The pumped-storage power plant, which would provide RTC renewable energy, will be an investment of the Kerala State Electricity Board as per the state policy.
This green ammonia production facility will have an output of 2,00,000 tonnes per annum and its power requirements will be met through 1,200-MW solar capacity integrated with a closed loop pumped hydro storage plant of 1,500 MW/12,000 MWh capacity. The proposed investment for this project is estimated to be INR 22,061 crore.
The preliminary identification and analysis of the project sites has already been carried out.
The other company has submitted an interest to the state government to set up a 252-MW electrolyser plant along with a green hydrogen and ammonia generation plant. It has proposed to build the plant in the phased manner with a capex investment of INR 8,763 crore.
The green hydrogen or ammonia or both will be made available to the local consumers, government, refineries, and fertilisers at the market rate or shall be exported.
In this first phase, the company has proposed to set up a 2-MW electrolyser and a five-tonnes-per-day ammonia production plant at a fixed capex cost of INR 800 million and total estimated expense of INR 1,150 million.
After the completion of this phase, 36 kg per hour of green hydrogen and 288 kg per hour of ammonia will be produced.
Earlier this year, the state government released a draft of its green hydrogen policy and also announced a INR 200 crore scheme for setting up green hydrogen hubs at Kochi and Trivandrum.
