SJVN marks historic milestone with India’s first multi-purpose green hydrogen pilot project

Shimla, Apr 24

Today, SJVN achieved a monumental feat with the inauguration of India’s first Multi-purpose (Combined Heat & Power) Green Hydrogen Pilot Project at the 1500 MW Nathpa Jhakri Hydro Power Station (NJHPS) in Jhakri, Himachal Pradesh.

Geeta Kapur, Chairman & Managing Director of SJVN, inaugurated the state-of-the-art Green Hydrogen Pilot Project, consisting of a 20Nm3/hr Electrolyzer & 25kW Fuel Cell Capacity. This pioneering project is the nation’s first Multi-purpose (Combined Heat & Power) Green Hydrogen Generation Plant. It possesses the unique capability to cater to the High Velocity Oxygen Fuel (HVOF) Coating Facility of NJHPS for meeting its combustion fuel requirements while also generating electricity through its 25kW capacity Fuel Cell.

The project will harness renewable energy from the 1.31 MW Solar Power Plant of SJVN located in Wadhal, Himachal Pradesh, to produce hydrogen gas by splitting hydrogen and oxygen from water. This will be accomplished through an alkaline electrolyzer with a capacity of 20Nm3/hr.

During 8 hours of operation, the Pilot Project is expected to produce 14Kgs. of Green Hydrogen daily, which will be stored in 6 storage Tanks with a total capacity of 12 m3 at 30 bar pressure. The green hydrogen will be utilized for HVOF Coating of turbine underwater parts in addition to generating electricity through its 25kW capacity Fuel Cell.

In alignment with the National Green Hydrogen Mission of the Government of India, SJVN’s Green Hydrogen Pilot Project is poised to accelerate the development of green hydrogen production infrastructure in the power sector, establishing green hydrogen as a clean energy source, remarked Kapur.

In addition to the inauguration of the Green Hydrogen Pilot Project, Geeta Kapur also inaugurated the first-of-its-kind Centralized Operation of the 1500 MW NJHPS and 412 MW Rampur Hydro Power Station (Rampur HPS). This was achieved by remotely operating Unit-2 of RHPS from NJHPS Control Room at Jhakri, Himachal Pradesh. Rampur HPS is being successfully operated on Tandem Operating System with NJHPS.

Smt. Kapur commended the dedicated efforts of NJHPS, Rampur HPS, and the Electrical Design Team at Corporate Headquarters for this historical achievement. She urged the employees to continue working diligently towards fully operating the entire Power Station from NJHPS at the earliest.

Present during these significant events were  Manoj Kumar, Head of Project (NJHPS),  Vikas Marwah Head of Project (Rampur HPS), Harish Kumar Sharma, Head of Department (Electrical Design), along with senior officials of NJHPS, Rampur HPS.