JULY 20239TOP STORYINDIA WILL PLACE RETALIATORY BARRIERS ON RENEWABLE HYDROGEN TRADE: UNION MINISTER RK SINGHGIC PLACES A LARGE ENERGY INVESTMENT WITH GENUS POWER'S $2 BILLION SMART METRE TECHNOLOGYIndia will set up barriers in the green hydrogen trade in response to other nations imposing restrictions, said Power and Renewable Energy Minister R K Singh. As one of the world's biggest emitters of climate-warming gases, India is betting on green hydrogen to help cut its emissions and to reach its target of reaching net-zero carbon emissions by 2070. "Some countries are putting barriers on green hydrogen (trade and technology). If they are putting up barriers, we will also put up barriers; then you will be losing out on our market," Singh said at the International Conference on Green Hydrogen.India is already in conversations with Germany over conditions in its hydrogen purchase tender with the European Union, which members of Indian industry found restrictive, renewable energy secretary Bhupinder Singh Bhalla said last month. The tender, announced in December, has a condition stating that the distance between the hydrogen manufacturing plant and the green power plant should be 500 kilometers or less, an industry source at the conference.Singh did not elaborate on what India's retaliatory barriers may be. He told the conference that Indian companies have already set plans to manufacture 3.5 million tonnes of green hydrogen. Last year, New Delhi approved a 174.9 billion rupees incentive plan for the fuel, which is made using renewable energy and without producing greenhouse gases. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has set a target to produce 5 million tonnes of green hydrogen by 2030. Earlier this year, Singh said that huge subsidies announced by some developed countries for their green hydrogen sectors can distort trade and is in violation of World Trade Organization (WTO) norms. The largest platform for smart metres in India will be created by Genus Power Infrastructures Ltd., a maker of listed smart metres, and Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC. Additionally, GIC will use warrants to make a roughly $75 million, or Rs600 crore, investment in Genus Power.With a market share of over 27 percent, Genus Power, a 1995 startup, is one of the top companies in India's power metering systems market. With a combined installed capacity of more than 10 million metres, the company operates manufacturing facilities in Jaipur, Haridwar, and Guwahati. The platform will compete for smart metre concessions in India, a market with an estimated $30 billion in annual sales.GIC will own 74 percent of the platform and the governing rights, with Genus owning the remaining 26 percent. With Genus, the platform will have an exclusive supply agreement for smart metres. The platform's headquarters will be in Singapore."A sovereign wealth fund like GIC is establishing a platform where it would be a controlling shareholder right from the outset for the first time in India. According to a source, sovereign and pension funds typically invest in minorities on most platforms. "This is GIC's second major bet in the Indian energy space after renewables," he continued.The agreement between GIC and Genus takes place at a time when the smart metre industry is benefiting greatly from government initiatives and supportive policies. "By 2026, the Indian government wants to install 250 million smart metres. The government is pushing to speed up the programme because the rate of deployment of the same has been slow, and more state utilities are anticipated to offer smart metre concessions in the upcoming quarters.
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