Jindal Group Company Commissions India's First Green Hydrogen Plant In Stainless Steel Sector

In a historic first, Jindal Stainless (JSL) has become the first Indian company to commence the use of green hydrogen for the production of stainless steel.

The groundbreaking venture was virtually inaugurated by Union Minister for Steel and Civil Aviation, Jyotiraditya M Scindia, on 4 March at Jindal's manufacturing unit in Haryana’s Hisar.

The state-of-the-art fully automated plant has been set up in association with Hygenco Green Energies Private Limited, a global leader in deploying green hydrogen solutions.

The alkaline bipolar electrolyser, which has a capacity of 350 Nm3/hr,(normal meters cubed per hour), a unit to measure gas flow rate, guarantees an average 90Nm3/hr round-the-clock supply of green hydrogen using dedicated solar energy and storage.

The facility aims at abating around 54,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions over 20 years and is based on a long-term off-take agreement.

The facility is controlled by an advanced energy management and control system and Hygenco is operating the plant under Build-Own-Operate (BOO) model. The first commercial-scale green hydrogen plant, powered by rooftop and floating solar, was completed within the stipulated time frame.

The facility has a comprehensive monitoring system to track hydrogen generation, renewable energy generation, states of charge, pressure, and temperature. It can make real-time decisions to achieve high efficiency.

The government has identified green hydrogen-based Direct Reduction Iron (DRI) as the most effective alternative to traditional steelmaking methods that rely on fossil fuels, primarily coal and natural gas. The use of hydrogen in steelmaking can not only improve energy efficiency but also reduce operating costs and enhance the quality of the steel produced.

India, which is majorly dependent on imports for its energy needs, announced the National Green Hydrogen Mission last year. The Mission envisages the production of five million tonnes of green hydrogen by 2030.