Hydrogen Projects Advance in India, Europe as Deployment Lags Early Targets
The Facts
- India's state-owned Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) said it is seeking to supply an additional 1 million metric tons of domestically produced green ammonia to fertiliser makers annually, through tenders, to reduce reliance on imports.
- The proposal follows SECI's March announcement that fertiliser companies and suppliers including ACME Cleantech and NTPC Green had signed offtake agreements for 724,000 tons of green ammonia, described as covering about one third of the country's requirements for the fuel.
- India's fertiliser sector currently uses roughly 20 million tons of grey hydrogen — hydrogen made from fossil fuels — each year, leaving manufacturers exposed to imported gas and related supply risks.
- Indian Railways' hydrogen-powered pilot train has covered about 2,500 km (2,492 km) in commercial operation on the Jind-Sonipat route since its launch, and Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw told the Rajya Sabha on Aug. 7 that expansion to other routes depends on resource availability, operational feasibility and network requirements.
- The Highland Council in Scotland granted planning permission for the Cromarty Green Hydrogen Production Facility, a 15 MW electrolysis plant near Alness acquired by developer Protium, which is the first stage of a planned Highland Hydrogen Hub.
- France-based Hydrogen Refueling Solutions and Baker Hughes announced a three-year cooperation to develop high-capacity hydrogen compression, distribution and refuelling infrastructure targeting fleets, logistics hubs and industrial users in France and other European markets.
- Industry accounts describe the main bottleneck as moving hydrogen from pilot projects to reliable commercial-scale operation, with cost, durability and infrastructure availability cited as unresolved constraints.
- In transport, hydrogen has gained less traction than battery-electric alternatives: used hydrogen cars have shown steep depreciation amid limited refuelling infrastructure, and analysts note battery trains have been ordered in larger fleet volumes than hydrogen trains.
Context
What is 'green' hydrogen, and how does it differ from what industry uses today?
Green hydrogen is produced by splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen through electrolysis powered by renewable electricity, so it carries no fossil-fuel emissions in production Environmental News …,fuelcellsworks.com. Most industrial hydrogen used today is 'grey' hydrogen made from natural gas — India's fertiliser sector alone consumes about 20 million tons of it annually Reuters,ESG News. Green ammonia, the product India is tendering for, is a derivative of green hydrogen used in fertiliser manufacturing Reuters,ETGovernment.com.
What government support is behind these projects?
India's green ammonia push sits within its National Green Hydrogen Mission, described as a $2.1 billion programme with a target of 5 million tons of green hydrogen production by 2030 ESG News. In Europe, Spain's government allocated €274.2 million ($316 million) to four renewable hydrogen projects totalling 102.27 MW of electrolysis capacity, using NextGenerationEU recovery funds after the projects were excluded from European Hydrogen Bank auction funding pv magazine Interna…. In the United States, CleanTechnica reports that President Donald Trump ended a $7 billion Biden-era programme aimed at expanding the domestic clean hydrogen supply chain CleanTechnica.
Is the technology itself improving?
Yes, though largely at demonstration scale. German researchers reported converting up to 31.3% of incoming sunlight directly into hydrogen in outdoor testing — described as the highest reported solar-to-hydrogen efficiency under real conditions — by connecting solar cells directly to water-splitting equipment, but the device remains a small proof of concept rather than a commercial plant Earth.com. Separately, researchers have reported a process for converting carbon dioxide and industrial waste into green hydrogen alongside mineral products Environmental News …, and companies in Canada are pursuing naturally occurring 'white' hydrogen from geological deposits BetaKit.
Where Left and Right agree, and where they split
- Where Left and Right agree
- Hydrogen's consumer-transport record is weak — depreciating used cars, missing pumps, battery trains ordered in bigger volumes — while the cost-durability-infrastructure gap between pilots and commercial operation remains unresolved.
- Where Left and Right split
- Whether the story is about public capital deliberately absorbing risk where imported gas threatens fertiliser supply, or about who pays when deployment outruns the economics that justify it.
How left and right read it
Decarbonisation that actually holds up is being done by public institutions, not consumer markets. A state-owned company tendering an additional million tons of domestic green ammonia targets the 20 million tons of grey hydrogen the fertiliser sector burns each year — and the imported-gas exposure that comes with it. That is food security, not a gadget. Public capital belongs where the structural risk sits: fertiliser, rail, industry — not resale-market hydrogen cars shedding value beside missing pumps.
Technology should earn deployment on its own economics rather than be willed into existence. Hydrogen's honest constraints are cost, durability and infrastructure — the gap between pilots and reliable commercial operation — and the signals are already legible: steep depreciation on used hydrogen cars amid limited refuelling, battery trains ordered in larger fleet volumes. India's railway minister tied expansion to feasibility. Who absorbs the cost when that discipline slips?
The receipts — all 24 sources
Wire services (1)
Independent coverage (23)
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