Shimla (Himachal Pradesh) [India], March 27 (ANI): An MoU was signed between Himachal Pradesh and HLC Green Energy LLC here on Monday for collaboration on green hydrogen.

Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said he aims to make Himachal Pradesh the 'First Green State' by 2025 and a leading green hydrogen-based economy, and this MoU was a step towards it.

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The MoU was signed in the presence of Industries Minister Harshwardhan Chauhan, Director Industries, Rakesh Kumar Prajapati and Managing Director of M/s HLC Green Energy LLC, Sanjay Sharma.

The Chief Minister while expressing happiness over the signing of MoU said that Green hydrogen has the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions significantly, potential of reducing fertilizer prices and contribute nation's economy through import substitution, said that Himachal Pradesh was already famous for Green Hydel energy and will now encourage new clean energy projects such as ethanol, green hydrogen, green ammonia, solar.

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He said that the State has a clear-cut advantage on account of abundant green hydel energy and abundance of water resources and assured full cooperation and support from the state government to the company in setting up the hydrogen project.

Industries Minister Chauhan said that the company intends to produce 0.3 million metric tons (MMT) of Green Hydrogen and 1.5 million metric tons (MMT) of Green Ammonia per year respectively.

The land requirement for this project is around 20-25 acres and likely to be set up in Una and Kangra due to water and logistics suitability.

The minister said that the manufacturing facility has planned to bring in an investment of more than Rs 4,000 crore, besides generating direct and indirect employment opportunities for about 2,500 individuals.

Notably, in January 2023, Union Cabinet approved the National Green Hydrogen Mission, which aims to make India a global hub for the production, utilization, and export of such technologies.

The green hydrogen mission will gradually lead to the decarbonization of industrial, transport, and energy sectors; a reduction in dependence on imported fossil fuels, among others.

The initial financial outlay for the mission is pegged at Rs 19,744 crore, which includes research and development activities.

Under this mission, the central government aims to raise annual green hydrogen production to 5 million tonnes, renewable energy capacity addition of about 125 gigawatts, attract over Rs 8 lakh crore in investments, lakhs of jobs, and most importantly over Rs 1 lakh crore cumulative reduction of fossil fuel imports.

In the Budget Speech 2021-22, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman proposed to launch a National Hydrogen Mission for generating hydrogen from green power sources. (ANI)

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