New Delhi, Aug 14 (IANS): NTPC has floated a global Expression of Interest (EoI) to set up a Pilot Project on Hydrogen Blending with Natural Gas in City Gas Distribution (CGD) Network in India.

The EoI follows the recent tenders floated by NTPC REL for green hydrogen fuelling station at Leh and NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam Limited (NVVN) for procurement of Fuel Cell Buses. A dedicated 1.25 MW Solar plant is also being set up at Leh by NTPC REL to power the hydrogen fuelling station.

This pilot on hydrogen blending with natural gas will be the first of its kind in India and would explore the viability of decarbonizing India's natural gas grid. NTPC with its ambition of playing a key role in India's transition to hydrogen economy would later take this up at a commercial scale across India. The successful execution of the pilot will also demonstrate the decarbonization objective along with import substitution aim under the government's 'AatmaNirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan'.

NTPC Limited is also keenly exploring production of green ammonia to decarbonize the fertilizer industry and possibly fulfil government's upcoming mandate of using certain percentage of green hydrogen in fertilizer and refinery sector.

Also, detailed study on green methanol production at Ramagundam has been completed and the company is expected to take final investment decision in the near future.