Ohmium, Shell India announce partnership to tap global green hydrogen opportunity

Green hydrogen company Ohmium International and oil & gas player Shell India have inked an agreement to evaluate hydrogen applications, markets, and project opportunities in the country and globally. As part of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) both will be forming joint working groups to assess opportunities from the technical, commercial and safety perspectives.

Ohmium claims to offer easy-to-install and maintain polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) electrolysers as an alternative to customised electrolysers. An electrolyser plays a key role in green hydrogen production as it helps in separating hydrogen and oxygen molecules in water using electricity. In November 2021, Ohmium despatched its first India-made electrolyser unit to the US.

Shell India proposes to leverage the partnership in pursuit of its plans to participate in the global hydrogen economy by developing the most competitive opportunities in the production, storage, transport, and delivery of hydrogen to end customers, the company said in a statement. Shell seeks to become a net-zero emissions business by 2050, with a target to reduce absolute emissions by half by the end of the current decade.

“We plan to develop integrated hydrogen hubs to serve the industry and heavy-duty transport to be a leading player in this space. We would like to work with Ohmium to make this a productive collaboration which would help us make our hydrogen projects most competitive,” said the chairperson of Shell Group of Companies in India, Nitin Prasad.

“Shell has demonstrated tremendous ambition to become a net zero carbon business by 2050. We believe that green hydrogen is a critical component of that transition,” remarked CEO of Ohmium International, Arne Ballantine.

India’s minister for power & new and renewable energy, Raj Kumar Singh has repeatedly been urging Indian entrepreneurs to utilise the government enabling policy to meet the global green hydrogen demand. He has gone on record to claim that the country may breach its 500 GW clean energy target if the central government’s vision for green hydrogen and green ammonia take off successfully.

In an June interview with Business Today Ohmium chairperson and investor, Ahmad Chatila said that India has the potential to become a global energy supplier like Saudi Arabia or the US with green hydrogen.