Context

NTPC, Maharatna PSU under Ministry of Power has signed anMoU with UT of Ladakh and LAHDC to setup the country’s first Green Hydrogen Mobility project.

About

About the MoU of theGreen Hydrogen Mobility Project

• It is a step to ensure a carbon-free economy based on renewable sources and green hydrogen.
• Leh is soon to become India's first city to implement a green hydrogen-based mobility project with zero-emission.
• MoU will enable NTPC to help Ladakh develop a carbon-free economy based on renewable sources and green hydrogen.
• The signing of the MoU was also marked with the inauguration of NTPC’s first solar installations in Leh in form of solar trees and a solar carport.
• NTPC has planned to ply 5 hydrogen buses, to start with, in the region and the company will be setting up a solar plant and a green hydrogen generation unit in Leh towards this end.
• This would be zero-emission mobility in the true sense.

Green Hydrogen 'Green hydrogen' is pure hydrogen produced using renewable energy sources such as wind or solar power.  There are no natural hydrogen deposits on earth, it has to be extracted from other compounds by a chemical process.  If renewable energy (e.g. from Solar panels) is used to generate electricity for the electrolysis of water then the green hydrogen can be generated without any harmful emissions.

NTPC role in green hydrogen project

• NTPC has been aggressively pushing for greening its portfolio and the green hydrogen project is another step towards achieving a low carbon footprint.
• NTPC has also been promoting the usage of green hydrogen-based solutions in sectors like mobility, energy, chemical, fertilizer, steel, etc.
• NTPC has recently revised its target of achieving 60GW renewables capacity by 2032, almost doubling the earlier target.
• NTPC has commissioned India’s largest floating solar project of 10MW at Vishakhapatnam.
• NTPC Ltd, India’s largest energy integrated company aims to build 60 GW Renewable Energy Capacity by 2032.
• Currently, the state-owned power major has an installed capacity of 66 GW across 70 power projects with an additional 18 GW under construction.