The Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) has announced the commissioning of the first green hydrogen production facility under the National Green Hydrogen Mission (NGHM), with SECI serving as the implementing agency for green hydrogen production (Mode-1, Tranche-I).

The project has been developed by JSW New Energy (Vijayanagar) and is located at the JSW Vijayanagar Steel complex in Ballari, Karnataka. The facility has a production capacity of 3,600 tons per annum (TPA) of green hydrogen.

It is powered by 25 MW to 27 MW of round-the-clock renewable energy sourced through a combination of captive solar and wind assets. The project uses pressurized alkaline-based electrolyzers for hydrogen production, marking a deployment of industrial-scale green hydrogen technology.

The hydrogen produced at the facility will be used in the direct reduced iron (DRI) process at JSW Steel to reduce carbon emissions in steel manufacturing. In addition to hydrogen, the electrolysis process generates oxygen, which is utilized in the plant’s blast furnace operations, improving overall process efficiency and enabling resource optimization.

Recently, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) invited proposals from States and Union Territories for implementing the skilling, upskilling, and reskilling component under the NGHM, aimed at creating a trained workforce for the hydrogen value chain.

Last August, the MNRE issued revised program guidelines for implementing pilot projects using green hydrogen and its derivatives in the residential, commercial, and decentralized sectors, which were not mentioned in earlier programs.

The revised guidelines focus on deploying green hydrogen in off-grid, localized, community-based applications. Decentralized production models using rooftop solar, small or micro hydropower, floating solar, biomass, and wastewater will be key features of the pilot projects.

Last September, SECI called for proposals to select an executing agency for preparing detailed project reports for green hydrogen hubs under Component B1 of the National Green Hydrogen Mission.