India’s hydrogen equipment market could reach $50bn by 2030

The India Hydrogen Alliance (IH2A) estimates the addressable market for Indian-manufactured hydrogen equipment could reach $45-50bn by 2030.

Including all hydrogen production plant equipment such as electrolysers and balance of plant, the IH2A’s Hydrogen Equipment Manufacturing and Services report’s market assessment suggests India could produce equipment for domestic deployment and export to Asia, the Middle East and Africa.

The Alliance estimates a split in the addressable market with 34% belonging to electrolyser stacks, 62% for balance of plant equipment and 4% for specialist engineering services.

It anticipates the domestic hydrogen production plant equipment market to reach $9bn on a conservative basis – based on a number of 135 plants in India by 2030 deploying 6.8GW of electrolyser capacity per year.

However, IH2A said “An optimistic view would add an additional 3.4 GW electrolyser capacity to add an additional $4.5bn to the domestic market during the same period.”

For regional equipment exports, the report predicts the market could reach at least $34bn with locally manufactured technology exported to around 540 projects across APAC, Middle East and Africa.

Furthermore, specialist engineering design, EPC and service exports from India could amount to at least $2bn, based on 5% OPEX on deployed CAPEX investments, representing at least 162,000 direct or indirect jobs.

“India has the potential to become a regional supply hub for hydrogen production plants, playing to its competitive position in engineering design, manufacturing and services,” said IH2A founding member, Jill Evanko, Chief Executive and President of Chart Industries.

“This is a significant opportunity that will require large-scale manufacturing build out and investments, for electrolyser stack manufacturing and Balance of Plant equipment such as compressors, storage tanks, transformers, rectifiers, air separation Units, and hydrogen pipeline infrastructure,” she said.

Stressing the $45-50bn market opportunity is achievable, Evanko said project developments and equipment majors are waiting to hear from the Indian Government on demand aggregation and secured offtake for early projects before investing.

IH2A Secretariat lead, Amrit Singh Deo, Senior Managing Director at FTI Consulting added, “This is an opportunity for government, industry and investors to work together and turn India’s competitive advantage on industrial manufacturing and engineering talent to its advantage. India should move quickly before other jurisdictions to build a hydrogen supply chain hub.”

The nation has announced its intentions to become a global green hydrogen production hub, aiming to produce five million tonnes per year by 2030. In January (2023), India approved a comprehensive $2bn incentive plan to boost green hydrogen development.

The country has also attracted some European hydrogen players with compressor manufacturer Howden – now owned by Chart – and thyssenkruppnucera having opened offices in Delhi and Mumbai respectively.