Energetica India Magazine January-February 2021

HYDROGEN By appreciating the Government’s ambition to launch National Hydrogen Mission, National Solar Energy Federation of India (NSEFI), Chairman Pranav R Mehta, said that the timing couldn’t have been better for Green Hydrogen. As, today, in the global energy transition story Green Hydrogen is playing an important role. In line with this, Mehta also disclosed, that, at NSEFI very soon we will be launching National Green Hydrogen Coalition as a private sector response to support government’s Hydrogen Mission. The move came after the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, during her Budget 2021 speech, pro- posed to launch a com- prehensive National Hydrogen Energy Mission in 2021-22 f o r g e n e r a t i n g Hydrogen from green power sources in the back drop of the announcement made by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi in November 2020. Besides, industry body NSEFI, which represents solar industry stakeholders, has also welcomed the Finance Minister’s announcement of over Rs 3 lakh crore package for DISCOM reforms over the next 5 years. On this announcement, Mehta said “this is an important step at this juncture which will help accelerate the renewable energy installations in the country over the next 10 years.” While on the government’s bold move on in- creasing duty on solar invertors from 5 per cent to 20 per cent, and on solar lanterns from 5 per cent to 15 per cent, Mehta opined that “time has come for Indian manufacturers to become globally competitive and satisfy not only Indian market’s demand but also global supply de- mand. Today’s announcements will take us one step closer to this.” In a bid to encourage domestic production, Finance Minister in the Budget also hinted on the government’s phased manufacturing plan for solar cells and solar panels, along with Rs 1.97 lakh crore planed in next 5 years for Production Linked Incentive (PLI) schemes in 13 sectors. Commenting on phased manufacturing and PLI schemes announcement, Mehta said “we are eagerly waiting for the government’s manu- facturing plan and incentives for solar cell and module manufacturers. While PLI Scheme is a good start we are looking forward to specific incentives such as interest subvention and in- centives on land, electricity which will go a long way in ensuring a level playing field for Indian manufacturers.” - Manu Tayal We will be Launching National Green Hydrogen Coalition Soon: Pranav Mehta, Chairman, NSEFI 25