Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL), a government-owned oil and gas company, has announced plans to reportedly build India’s largest green hydrogen plant. It will float a tender for a 20 MW electrolyser to be set up at its refinery in Bina, Madhya Pradesh. The company aims to achieve net-zero emissions for its operations by 2040 iand plans to launch its net-zero strategy in March 2022. HPCL currently consumes 650 MW of energy, which is predicted to increase to 1,000 MW by 2027 after green hydrogen obligations are taken into account.
According to a government proposal, green hydrogen should account for 10 per cent of refiners’ overall hydrogen requirements in three years, rising to 25 per cent by the end of the decade. Because of space limits at many refineries, state-owned oil corporations have lobbied the government to enforce a green hydrogen use mandate for all enterprises rather than for each refinery site.
In September 2021, BPCL announced plans to use its state-wide network of fuel stations to support charging of electric vehicles. Around 7,000 traditional retail shops will be converted into energy stations that will offer a variety of fuelling alternatives, including gasoline, diesel, and flexi fuels, as well as electric vehicle (EV) charging, compressed natural gas, and hydrogen.
