Larsen & Toubro has announced the commissioning of a green hydrogen plant at its “AM Naik Heavy Engineering Complex” in Hazira, Gujarat. The plant was inaugurated at the hands of Shrikant Madhav Vaidya, Chairman, Indian Oil Corporation Ltd.
Production of green hydrogen based on an alkaline electrolysis process began on August 20, 2022. The plant will produce 45 kg of green hydrogen daily, which will be used for captive consumption in the company’s Hazira manufacturing complex.
The green hydrogen plant is designed for an electrolyzer capacity of 800kW comprising both alkaline (380 kW) and PEM (420 kW) technologies and will be powered by a rooftop solar plant of 990kW peak DC capacity and a 500kWh battery energy storage system (BESS).
As part of the first phase of the project 380 kW Alkaline electrolyser has been installed, while the 420 kW PEM electrolyser along with solar plant capacity augmentation to 1.6 MW peak DC, will be part of future expansion. [PEM stands for polymer electrolyte membrane.]
The plant is spread across 3000 sqm and the first phase of the project has been installed, tested, and commissioned. The scope involves the generation of high purity green hydrogen (99.99 per cent) and oxygen, and their captive consumption in the manufacturing shops.
A blend of 15 per cent hydrogen with natural gas will be used as a fuel, and oxygen will supplement the existing usage in cutting and welding applications.
Safety measures
To ensure safe operation and production, the plant design incorporates both active and passive safety systems and will be operated through state-of-the-art control systems with remote monitoring functionality. In addition, an integrated data analytics platform designed by L&T will provide insights into the performance of the electrolysers and the overall plant.
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Water and carbon neutrality
As part of its ESG commitments, L&T has pledged to achieve water neutrality by 2035 and carbon neutrality by 2040. Making Green Hydrogen an integral part of its clean fuel adoption policy.
L&T’s climate change, energy efficiency and renewable energy programmes are aligned with the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC), released by the Government of India. The Company’s programmes are also being aligned to the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) ratified by the Government of India during the COP 21 – Paris Agreement.
