India Energy Week (IEW) 2025 has opened its doors in New Delhi and the major exhibition, billed as the second largest energy event globally, heard bold forecasts for green hydrogen at the opening ceremony.
The India National Hydrogen Mission has set a target of 5 million metric tonnes of green hydrogen by 2030 but H.E. Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Government of India, said he thinks India “will do much better than that.”
“I believe there will be such a shift to green hydrogen and work is going on at a frantic pace. We’ve already demonstrated that the cost of solar energy can be brought down from 25 cents to 3 cents – all you need is an electrolyser,” he said.
Minister Puri said while the “primary focus” remains on increasing the adoption of biofuels, renewables and hydrogen, he accepted oil and gas will continue to play a pivotal role in stabilising grids, and developing industrial hydrogen and energy storage.
Addressing delegates at the opening ceremony, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the 21st century belongs to India. “India is not only driving its own growth, but also contributing to the world’s growth,” he said.
India is targeting rapid growth from 3GW to 70GW solar power capacity in 10 years. “To support green energy, the government has made several announcements, including removing duties on critical minerals to strengthen India’s supply chain. This year’s budget also opened up investment in nuclear energy,” said Prime Minister Modi.
A panel discussion was held with India, Tanzania, UK and Qatar, with the UK represented by Ed Miliband, Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero.
Miliband said there was panel agreement about climate threats and “common narrative” to achieve economic growth and security. “Our position is that the Russian invasion of Ukraine was a massive wake up call for the world but also for us. What we saw was a huge spike in fossil fuel prices.
He said nuclear and renewables must be part of the mix and we need all technologies.
“We are a proud producer in the North Sea and oil and gas, but we are also a price taker, not a price maker, on the international market and that means we were hit in a massive way. So for the UK, energy security, economic growth and jobs, and tackling the climate crisis all point in the same direction – which is to make this transition to clean energy as fast as we can.”
Qatar Minister of State for Energy Saad Sherida al-Kaabi said it is building the world’s largest ammonia plant “and we’re going to be starting production next year” while raising LNG production from 77 to 160 million tonnes.
Hon. Doto Mashaka Biteko, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Energy in Tanzania, said its most dominant energy mix is hydro and it is targeting 100% renewables. “So the excess we have, what do we do with it? The second issue is how do you evaluate the electricity to neighbouring countries, we need money to put up the transmission lines. We need to bring electricity to 300 million people in the next five years in Africa and it will require a lot of investment.”
A video showcased the country’s growth in oil and gas, with investment totalling $72bn in five years, and outlined its strategic aim to create ‘energy justice and sustainability… and driving down hydrogen production, powering biofuels and expanding capacities at an unprecedented rate’.
IEW 2025 exhibition space has grown 65% to 28,000sqm and global delegates are expected to exceed 70,000. Running for the third year, the event unites policymakers, energy leaders and innovators and more than 700 exhibitors are on site.
With India embarking on bold hydrogen and ammonia development and courting renewables while remaining committed to traditional oil and gas, it is little wonder that the event is capturing broad international interest.
Over 500 speakers will take to the podium this week and more than 20 foreign Energy Ministers or Deputy Ministers will be in attendance along with heads of international organisations and 90 CEOs from Fortune 500 energy companies. Delegates had access to a hydrogen bus, promoting the fuel of the future.
Ravin Mirchandani, H2 View advisory board member, said 2025 is shaping up to be a big year for India’s hydrogen sector as a number of the first technology proving plants will come on stream which will be a harbinger for companies that have undertaken these pilots to learn and also commit to large scale production.
“India has the opportunity to be a ‘life boat’ for the European hydrogen tech houses,” he said.
“The European hydrogen sector has slowed due to early failures in tech, too much invested too early and significantly cheaper competition from China. The industry there has the opportunity to use India as a scaling up location and therefore a ‘life boat’ until such time as the European hydrogen sector wakes up again.”
“Nel has tied up with Reliance and McPhy with L&T to name just two. These two and other similar tech will get their first go live opportunity in 2025. If successful, you can expect to see large MW scale roll outs of electrolyser plants in India targeted to large scale Indian projects. This has brought the IEW into focus given how pivotal the year is going to be for the sector in India.”
