Announcing plans to set up large-scale solar and green hydrogen plants across the state, Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, who also holds the Energy portfolio, on Tuesday, said: “As India moves towards renewable energy as an alternative to thermal power, Telangana is at the forefront of this transition.”
He was speaking to the media after a visit to the research and development (R&D) centre of the Yamanashi Green Hydrogen Company (YGHC), a power-to-gas company, located 100 kilometres from Tokyo in Japan.
Vikramarka observed the company’s green hydrogen production firsthand. The deputy chief minister met scientists and executives at the R&D centre and discussed the production processes of green hydrogen, battery energy storage systems (BESS) and other renewable energy technologies. “Yamanashi’s technology uses solar energy to electrolyse water, splitting it into hydrogen and oxygen.
The resulting hydrogen is then used as fuel in racing cars, for fuel cells in supermarkets and to provide heat for industrial boilers,” explained YGHC chief engineer Kunigi. Since solar energy powers the entire process, the end product is referred to as “green hydrogen”.
The deputy chief minister also inspected the BESS unit developed by the R&D division of YGHC. These batteries store excess power generated from solar plants during the day. At present, due to the lack of effective storage systems, surplus solar energy often goes to waste when it cannot be fully utilised.
Vikramarka noted that this technology would greatly benefit Singareni Collieries Company Limited’s existing 245 MW solar plants as well as the planned expansion of solar capacity by an additional 1,000 MW. During his discussions with YGHC officials, he proposed a joint venture to introduce green hydrogen plants and BESS technology in Telangana. The Yamanashi officials responded positively.