ONGC, allies pump $6.2 bn into green energy projects
State oil major inks a pact with Greenko, one of India's largest renewable energy companies, to form a 50:50 JV, which will set up 5.5-7GW of solar and wind power projects
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New Delhi: India's top oil explorer ONGC and its partners will invest $6.2 billion (Rs50,000 crore) in green energy projects to produce carbon-free hydrogen and green ammonia as part of an ambitious decarbonization drive, officials said. State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has signed a pact with Greenko, one of India's largest renewable energy companies, to form a 50:50 joint venture for green energy projects.
The JV will set up 5.5-7 gigawatts (GW) of solar and wind power projects, and use electricity generated from such plants to split water in an electrolyzer to produce green hydrogen, which in turn would be used for manufacturing green ammonia, they said.
The renewable plants together with Greenko's pump storage power generation system will give 1.4 GW of round-the-clock (RTC) electricity that would be used to produce 0.18 million tonne of green hydrogen per annum (about 20 kg per hour). This hydrogen will be mixed with nitrogen to produce 1 million tonne per annum of green ammonia, which in the initial years will be exported to Europe, Japan and Korea and used within the country when the market develops, they said. Officials said the renewable energy component of the chain would cost about $5 billion while the hydrogen and ammonia plant will cost $1.2 billion. ONGC is looking to set up the hydrogen and ammonia plants, which are likely to start production in 2026, on the west coast, preferably near Mangalore, where it has an oil refinery.
