Electrolysers

Green hydrogen | New Indian electrolyser player to expand factory to 1GW after order book reaches $148m

Greenzo Energy says its machine is the only alkaline electrolyser to be designed and manufactured in India to date

Sandeep Agarwal, founder and managing director of Greenzo Energy.
Sandeep Agarwal, founder and managing director of Greenzo Energy.Photo: Greenzo Energy India Pvt Ltd
Senior Reporter

New Delhi-based Greenzo Energy unveiled its first two alkaline electrolysers earlier this month, boasting that its equipment was the first indigenously developed technology for green hydrogen production in India.

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The company started off as an engineering consultant for renewable energy as well as green hydrogen and ammonia projects.

However, its founder and managing director Sandeep Agarwal tells Hydrogen Insight that the firm identified electrolysers and their mass production as a potential bottleneck for India’s green hydrogen potential.

As such, Greenzo Energy started to develop alkaline technology “which can be suitable in Indian ambient temperatures and capable for robust operations”, with low maintenance requirements over asset life, using locally sourced materials and equipment.

“These electrolysers are developed in-house on 100% indigenous technology with indigenous material, we are not using any third party IP [intellectual property],” Agarwal tells Hydrogen Insight. “We have our own indigenous designs and technology.”

Fellow engineering company Larsen & Toubro had commissioned its first electrolyser made in India, also drawing on domestic partners throughout the supply chain, at the beginning of this month. However, L&T’s equipment was manufactured under its licensing agreement with France’s McPhy for the latter’s pressurised alkaline technology.

Today, Greenzo Energy has designed stacks of up to 5MW in size, along with balance-of-plant equipment.

Assuming extremely low power costs of three rupees per kilowatt-hour ($0.04/kWh), the company claims that its electrolysers can produce hydrogen at a cost of 280 rupees per kilo of H2 ($3.38/kg).

Greenzo Energy had announced in December 2022 that it would invest $50m in a 250MW manufacturing facility in the Sanand-II industrial area in the state of Gujarat’s largest city Ahmedabad, which is expected to start producing electrolysers by the end of this year.

However, Agarwal tells Hydrogen Insight that based on an order book of 12.3 billion rupees ($148m), Greenzo Energy has decided to scale this up to 1GW of annual production capacity.
Hydrogen Insight has reached out to confirm whether the company plans to bid into the Indian government’s second tender for subsidies to support electrolyser manufacturing in the country, which earmarks capacity to be allocated to electrolysers designed by domestic firms without licensing international IP.

Greenzo Energy has sold 6MW of alkaline electrolysers integrated with fuel cells, worth 1.3 billion rupees ($15.7m) to an as-yet undisclosed developer for a project in Oman, which plans to use green hydrogen to power operations at one of the country’s airports. Details of other orders have not been revealed.

However, Agarwal confirms that the export of this equipment will hinge on third-party inspection and testing.

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IndiaElectrolysersalkaline electrolysersGreen H2Asia
Published 18 March 2024, 12:28Updated 18 March 2024, 12:30