SHIMLA: In a first green initiative by NHPC on Himachal Day today public transport is set to go "green with zero carbon foot prints by using green hydrogen fuel in transport buses in Chamba district. NHPC is executing the pilot project to use hydrogen in the 32 seater bus on a pilot basis in the hill district that would be upscaled if it turns out to be successful.
District Administration Chamba and NHPC Ltd today signed an MoU for execution of hydrogen pilot project to make “mobility green” in the presence of Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur and top officials at Chamba. NHPC is already running Parbati and Chamera power projects worth over 1771 MW capacity in Kullu and Chamba districts in Himachal.
As and when the green transport pilot project becomes successful, this can be replicated on a larger scale to decrease the carbon footprints in the hills of Himachal.
Group General Manager of NHPC A.K. Pathak signed the MoU on behalf of NHPC whereas Deputy Commissioner D.C. Rana signed the MoU on behalf of the State Government.
The Chief Minister said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced that India will go Carbon neutral by 2070 and by 2030 India will generate 500 GW from non-fossil fuel sources which will be 50 percent of total installed capacity and this initiative of State Government with cooperation of NHPC will be a big milestone in this regard.
Thakur said that the Green Hydrogen project at Chamba has been taken up by NHPC as an initiative in the area of mobility.
Chief Minister said that Grid- connected ground mounted Solar PV plant of 300 KW in the area of 200 acre would be installed. Its power would be used in the electrolyser to produce hydrogen.
As much of 20 kg Hydrogen per day would be generated through electrolysis process. It is green hydrogen and would be stored in pressurized form. The nine to 12 ltrs of water would be utilized to produce one kilogram of hydrogen fuel.
Group General Manager NHPC S.K. Sandhu said that this was an initiative of Chairman NHPC A.K. Singh. The hydrogen would be stored in the fuel tank having capacity 20kg of bus, car etc. From fuel tank this hydrogen would go to the hydrogen fuel cells installed in the bus as a part of main engine.
These fuel cells would be capable to generate electric power and this power would be used to run engine bus up to 8 hrs continuously or 200 Km in the local area of Chamba. NHPC would also provide one 32 +1 seaters bus under this pilot project which would improve the transportation of area with zero emission of carbon.
During the occasion ,Speaker State Vidhan Sabha Vipin Singh Parmar, MP Kishan Kapoor, Chief Whip Vikram Jaryal, MLA Jiya Lal Kapoor and Pawan Nayar, Chief Secretary Ram Subhag Singh were present.
