KOCHI: Kerala is truly readying itself for fuel of the future ‘hydrogen.’ South India’s first green hydrogen plant and refuelling station, coming up on Kochi airport premises, is all set to be commissioned soon. And if all goes as per the plans of the authorities, the Kochi Water Metro and a select e-feeder services of Kochi Metro will be powered by hydrogen fuel in the near future.
BPCL, which has tied up with the Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL) to set up a 1,000-kw facility at Nedumbassery, has also finalised plans to build a similar hydrogen refuelling station in Thiruvananthapuram by partnering with ANERT.
“Green hydrogen holds the potential to transform aviation and urban mobility. Now the work of setting up a hydrogen refuelling station at Nedumbassery has been completed, and the station is ready for commissioning. It will have an initial capacity to produce 80 kg of green hydrogen daily,” a senior BPCL official said.
“We’ve identified diverse uses for the refuelling station. It includes catering to the hydrogen-powered vessels and e-feeder buses that are planned to be deployed by the Kochi Metro Rail Ltd (KMRL) in the near future,” he said.
The Kochi Water Metro, which uses electric-hybrid passenger ferries manufactured by Cochin Shipyard Ltd, has ambitious plans to shift to the zero-emission green hydrogen fuel in future. “The shift to green hydrogen vessels is now under active consideration and discussions are going on with Cochin Shipyard to deploy hydrogen fuel cell vessels. While we decided against hydrogen ferries initially due to their huge operating cost and difficulty in sourcing, discussions have now been revived with ANERT, which has extended a subsidy scheme,” said a KMRL source.
When the green hydrogen proposal was first made two years ago, the cost of the ‘future fuel’, considered a potential replacement for fossil-based ones, was Rs 960/kg. Industry sources said this has now more than halved.
The Kochi Water Metro has started a pre-feasibility study for launching services to Kochi airport and back from Aluva through Periyar and canals like Changal Thodu. If the hydrogen-ferry project is realised, it plans to deploy the same in the section, which will enable it to source the fuel from the hydrogen-refuelling station set up by the BPCL along with CIAL.
With the commissioning of the hydrogen refuelling station, CIAL plans to deploy hydrogen buses for which it has entered into a strategic collaboration with EKA Mobility, KPIT Technologies, and BPCL.
EKA Mobility has designed the 9-m-long bus, capable of carrying over 30 passengers, as part of a Proof of Concept (PoC) project that will run for three years. “If successful, more hydrogen buses will be purchased. The station will provide hydrogen fuel to operate the buses, which will be deployed for internal operations and also for short distance ferrying of commuters,” said a source.
The BPCL is also involved in a project to develop a hydrogen-powered Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) aircraft ecosystem.
The project, a collaboration with BluJ Aerospace, aims to create a sustainable, zero-emission urban and regional air mobility solution, and includes research into indigenous hydrogen fuel cells.
BPCL’s hydrogen refuelling stations in Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram will be strategically positioned to facilitate research and pilot projects within Kerala’s Hydrogen Valley Programme.
These stations will be essential in promoting commercial hydrogen applications and encouraging the wider uptake of hydrogen-powered transportation solutions.