From the Editorial Desk IGHA – Hyvolution India 2026 – 27 August, 2026
India’s renewable energy numbers are getting difficult to ignore.
At BigMint India Ferrous Week 2026, Arun Choudhary, Scientist and Deputy Director at the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), put some perspective around the scale. India’s installed power capacity stands at 551.99 GW, with 300.50 GW coming from non-fossil sources, including large hydro. That is already 52.85% of installed capacity.
For the steel industry, however, the more relevant question is not how much renewable capacity India has. It is how much of that clean power can be converted into commercially viable industrial decarbonisation.
Green hydrogen will have to prove its economics
Steel is one of the sectors where green hydrogen has a genuine use case, particularly in hydrogen-based DRI. The National Green Hydrogen Mission is targeting at least 5 million tonnes of annual green hydrogen production by 2030, backed by an outlay of ₹19,744 crore.
There is also visible movement from industry. The presentation referred to 48 announced green hydrogen and green ammonia projects, representing around 3.5 million tonnes of annual capacity, along with 19 electrolyser manufacturing projects.
But announcements are the easier part.
For a steel producer, the decision eventually comes down to cost: What will hydrogen cost at the plant gate, and what will it do to the cost of steel?
Cheap renewable electricity, reliable transmission, electrolyser costs, storage and financing all sit behind that one question.
The next bottleneck may not be generation
This is perhaps where the discussion needs to shift.
India can continue adding solar and wind capacity, but industrial users need dependable power, not just installed capacity. Transmission, storage, open access and financing will increasingly determine how quickly clean energy finds its way into actual industrial processes.
The investment requirement itself is substantial. Figures presented at the event put renewable-energy investment needs at around ₹27 lakh crore between 2023 and 2030.
So India’s next clean-energy milestone may not simply be another record number of gigawatts.
It will be seeing those gigawatts turn into lower-carbon steel, green hydrogen, domestic manufacturing and competitive Indian industry.
That is also where conversations at IGHA – Hyvolution India 2026 become relevant. Bringing hydrogen producers, steelmakers, technology providers, policymakers and investors into the same room is important because the industry now needs to move beyond discussing hydrogen potential.
The question that matters is much more practical:
Can we make green hydrogen affordable enough for Indian industry to actually use at scale?
That answer will tell us far more about the maturity of India’s hydrogen economy than project announcements alone.
FAQs
1. Why is green hydrogen important for India’s steel industry?
Green hydrogen could help reduce the use of fossil fuels in steelmaking, particularly through hydrogen-based direct reduced iron (DRI).
2. What is India’s current non-fossil power capacity?
The figures presented at BigMint India Ferrous Week 2026 put India’s non-fossil installed capacity, including large hydro, at 300.50 GW, or 52.85% of total installed capacity.
3. What is India’s green hydrogen target for 2030?
The National Green Hydrogen Mission targets at least 5 million metric tonnes of green hydrogen production annually by 2030.
4. What will determine whether green hydrogen works commercially for steel?
Much will depend on the delivered cost of hydrogen. Renewable electricity prices, electrolyser costs, transmission, storage, financing and plant utilisation will all influence the economics.
5. Is increasing renewable capacity enough to decarbonise Indian industry?
Not by itself. Industry also needs reliable transmission, storage, open access, financing and clean power that can support continuous industrial operations.
6. Why is this relevant to IGHA – Hyvolution India 2026?
The next stage of India’s hydrogen journey is increasingly about offtake and commercial deployment. IGHA – Hyvolution India 2026 creates a platform for hydrogen producers, steelmakers, technology providers, policymakers and investors to discuss how green hydrogen can move from announced capacity to industrial use at scale.