Green Hydrogen Microgrid Projects Mark First attempted in India, slated for implementation at Simhadri location
NTPC, India's largest power generating company, has embarked on an innovative project to integrate renewable energy sources with hydrogen production and storage. The project, a Green Hydrogen based Energy Storage Project at Simhadri, is a significant step towards creating self-sustaining energy systems, particularly for off-grid and remote regions like Ladakh and J&K.
The project configuration, designed in-house by NTPC, combines renewable-powered microgrids with electrolyzers that produce green hydrogen on-site. This approach effectively stores energy in hydrogen form for use when renewable resources are unavailable, supporting decarbonization by replacing fossil fuel-based power generation in isolated areas with clean hydrogen energy.
The hydrogen for the project will be produced using a 240 kW Solid Oxide Electrolyser from a nearby Floating Solar power plant. The hydrogen produced will be stored at high pressure and electrified using a 50 kW Solid Oxide Fuel Cell. The system will operate in standalone mode from 5PM to 7AM.
The significance of the project lies in its potential to demonstrate a scalable, zero-emission fuel solution that can bridge the power reliability gap in off-grid locations. By using a hybrid microgrid system integrating solar, wind, battery storage, and hydrogen production, it ensures continuous power supply while reducing carbon footprints.
For Ladakh, with its harsh climate and challenging grid connectivity, the hydrogen microgrid can provide reliable, clean energy where conventional grid expansion is costly and slow. Hydrogen can act as a long-duration storage medium, overcoming intermittency issues of renewables, enabling decarbonization of power and transport sectors in the region.
The project aligns with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision for carbon neutrality by 2070, and aims to make Ladakh a carbon neutral territory. It is also the country's first Standalone Fuel-Cell based Micro-grid with hydrogen production. The project would be useful for studying and deploying multiple microgrids in off-grid and strategic locations.
While detailed public announcements about NTPC’s exact project scale or deployment timeline in Ladakh were not found in the current search results, the described integrated microgrid-hydrogen approach aligns with broader industry trends in India, where hydrogen and battery storage technologies are rapidly developing with strong government and industry backing.
This initiative by NTPC could pave the way for replicating green hydrogen microgrids in other off-grid or islanded areas across India, contributing to national decarbonization goals and energy access enhancement.
- The Green Hydrogen based Energy Storage Project at Simhadri by NTPC could potentially be replicated in off-grid regions like Ladakh and J&K, as it integrates renewable energy, electrolyzers, and hydrogen storage to provide reliable, clean energy despite challenging grid connectivity.
- By leveraging finance for hydrogen production and storage, NTPC's project exemplifies the role of environmental-science in facilitating renewable energy solutions for climate-change mitigation, especially in India's power industry.
- The success of the standalone Fuel-Cell based Micro-grid with hydrogen production in Ladakh has the potential to impact future industry investments in India, propelling the growth of renewable-energy infrastructure and accelerating the country's decarbonization efforts.
