Department of International Cooperation

According to the Indian media reports, India will establish its first solid waste-to-hydrogen plant in Pune at a cost of over Rs 430 crore (approx. US$ 52 million). The plant will be set up by The Green Billions Ltd (TGBL), a sustainability solution provider, that has entered into a 30-year-long agreement with Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC). The TGBL will invest Rs 350 crore (approx. US$ 42.5 million) in setting up the plant, and an additional Rs 82 crore (approx. US$ 10 million) will be spent on constructing the storage facility and logistics support.

Setting up at Hadapsar Industrial Estate in Pune by November 2024, the plant will be expected to produce 10 tons of hydrogen daily from 350 tons of solid waste, TGBL chairman Prateek Kanakia said. The PMC will charge TGBL Rs 347 (approx. US$ 4.3) per ton as the waste handling fee.

The refuse-derived fuel (RDF) from the waste will be utilized to generate hydrogen using plasma gasification technology. The project aims to demonstrate the technological and financial feasibility of waste-to-hydrogen generation. The waste will comprise biodegradable, non-biodegradable, and domestic hazardous waste, and will be segregated at the TGBL facility using optical sensor technology.

India Officials said that hydrogen is the fuel of the future and can be obtained from municipal waste. With the government of India strongly focusing on hydrogen adoption, such projects will not only help India achieve de-carbonization goals but will also reduce emissions from waste disposal.

TGBL said that in the future it will look for partnerships with the cash-rich municipal governments in India under a public-private-partnership model.


1. CNBC TV18 / Feb 14, 2023 / PMC to set up India's first waste-to-hydrogen plant in Pune
2. Hindustan Times / Jan 09, 2023 / PMC to set up India's first plant for extraction of green hydrogen from waste
3. Moneycontrol.com / Feb 14, 2023 / India's first waste-to-hydrogen plant to be set up in Pune