TN govt, Hyundai and IIT Madras join hands on green hydrogen innovation

Government, academia, and industry have united in a bid to help solve climate change problem with a focus on green hydrogen.

The Tamil Nadu government along with IIT Madras and Korean auto major Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) on Tuesday launched the design of the Hyundai HTWO Innovation Centre at the institute’s satellite campus in Thaiyur, near Chennai. This R&D hub will serve as a catalyst for innovation in the field of green hydrogen technology and its ecosystem. HTWO is a hydrogen fuel cell system brand of Hyundai.

This marks the next phase in HMIL’s ₹100 Crore commitment to pioneering green hydrogen innovation in India, and this funding is made by HMIL partially through Hyundai Motor India Foundation (HMIF) as part of its CSR initiatives, a statement said.

HMIL’s MD Unsoo Kim said, “Building on nearly three decades of progress, we are preparing to achieve RE100 [a renewable energy benchmark] at our Chennai plant by 2025, demonstrating our commitment to renewable energy and responsible operations,” he said. “The future of hydrogen has never been more promising…Today Hyundai marks a significant step forward in our shared journey toward a cleaner, more sustainable planet,” Kim said at the launch event.

“Globally, Hyundai has been working for over two decades to advance hydrogen technology, from fuel cell electric vehicles to large-scale hydrogen infrastructure. We have been at the forefront of the hydrogen momentum, achieving many firsts including the world’s first mass-produced FCEV,” he added.

Tamil Nadu Industries Minister TRB Rajaa said the collaboration is a crucial step towards indigenous hydrogen production. “Tamil Nadu is the automobile capital, the electronics capital and textiles capital because of the talent pool the State has, and due to the distributed growth, and our people embrace education,” he added. “I would like Tamil Nadu to become the R&D capital of not just India but of Asia. We should not go back to tech, which we have already conquered. We should leapfrog two or three generations ahead and look at problems then and try to find solutions for those now,” he added.

The minister said that Tamil Nadu will be one of the first states to export hydrogen with supply from Thoothukudi to Singapore-based Sembcorp, which in turn will be supplied to Japan.

IIT Madras Director, V Kamakoti said one of the first targets of this centre is to work on refuelling. “We should help hydrogen-powered vehicles from Chennai to Kanyakumari fuel at Chennai, Trichy and reach Kanyakumari. In return, the vehicle should refuel at Kanyakumari and Trichy and Chennai.”

This article has been republished from The Hindu Business Line.