ONGC officials said: that India’s largest oil explorer ONGC and its partners will invest $6.2 billion (Rs 50,000 crore) in green energy projects to produce carbon-free hydrogen and green ammonia as part of an ambitious decarbonisation plan.

State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has signed an agreement with Greenko, one of India’s largest renewable energy companies, to form a 50:50 joint venture in green energy projects.

The joint venture will build 5.5-7 GWs of solar and wind energy projects and use electricity generated by the plant to split water in electrolysers to produce green hydrogen, which in turn will be used to make green ammonia.

The renewable energy plant and Greenko’s pumped hydropower generation system will provide 1.4 GW of round-the-clock (RTC) power and produce 0.18 million tonnes of green hydrogen per year (approximately 20 kg per hour).

This hydrogen, mixed with nitrogen, will produce 1 million tonnes of green ammonia per year, which will be exported to Europe, Japan and South Korea in the first few years, and used domestically as the market develops.

Officials said the renewable energy portion of the chain would cost about $5 billion, while the hydrogen and ammonia plants would cost $1.2 billion. ONGC is looking to build hydrogen and ammonia plants on the west coast that could start production in 2026, preferably near Mangalore, where there is an oil refinery.

They said the land is unavailable, and the project may be moved to Gujarat. ONGC, the largest US crude and natural gas producer, joins the likes of Reliance Industries Ltd and Adani Group in pursuing carbon-free hydrogen.
The two private groups have announced billions of projects as part of India’s net zero goal.

While hydrogen is the cleanest zero-carbon fuel known, it isn’t easy to transport, and much of its global production is used locally (on-site). For these reasons, ONGC is investigating the production of green ammonia from hydrogen.
Ammonia, widely used as a fertiliser, is easily transported. Green ammonia is expensive to produce, so its use in India will be limited. In countries like Japan and South Korea, the law requires a certain percentage of green ammonia so they can become a natural market.

Green ammonia can also be used as a marine fuel. Globally, hydrogen is a decarbonising fuel because it can replace polluting fossil fuels.

India aims to produce 5 million tonnes of green hydrogen annually by 2030. Hydrogen is the lightest and most abundant element in the universe, but it hardly exists in pure form. Instead, it is rich in compounds, most notably combining with water or oxygen in carbon to form hydrocarbons such as fossil fuels.