New Delhi, Jan 13 (KNN) India has been successful in increasing the ethanol blending in petrol from 1.53 per cent in 2013-14 to 10.17 per cent in July 2022, said Hardeep S. Puri, Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas & Housing and Urban Affairs on Thursday.

While addressing the 11th edition of CII Bio-Energy Summit in New Delhi, the Petroleum minister pointed out that setting up of 2G refineries to make ethanol from Parali (Panipat) and Bamboo (Numaligarh) with the objective of reducing pollution along with achieving energy security goals is another milestone in this direction.

The Indian Government in February 2022 had announced the Green Hydrogen Policy with the primary objective of producing 5 million tonnes of ethanol by 2030.

India’s Green Hydrogen policy is a revolutionary shift which is set to make India a global hub for green hydrogen and green ammonia production and India aims to produce 4 MT Green Hydrogen annually & accrue Rs. 1 lakh crore of cumulative fossil fuel import savings by 2030, he said.

Puri said that the Indian government is working with companies in countries like UK and Germany for the domestic manufacture of electrolysers to make deployment of Hydrogen as an energy source, affordable.

India is on an ambitious journey of energy transition to achieve net carbon zero by 2070 and this transition has to be stable and ensure that it remains consistent, he added.

Our OMCs have come out with their respective net zero targets - IOCL by 2046, BPCL and HPCL by 2040 which also means that OMCs are gearing up for the change in energy source and use, going forward, the minister pointed out.

The 11th edition of the CII's flagship Bio-fuel event was held to deliberate on the emerging ecosystem for energy transition and the rapidly expanding role of Bioenergy, with emphasis on cleaner fuel mix, focused sessions on Ethanol Blending Programme (EBP), Compressed Biogas (CBG) and use of appropriate technology, on the strategic energy landscape across the globe.  (KNN Bureau)