9-Mar-2022: Scientists develop energy-efficient hydrogen production by urea electrolysis

Indian Scientists have designed an electrocatalyst system for energy-efficient hydrogen production with the help of electrolysis of urea. The urea electrolysis is helpful towards urea-based waste treatment with low-cost hydrogen production. This can be utilized for energy production towards our country's benefits.

The energy requirement for production of hydrogen through water electrolysis can be reduced by 70 % through urea electrolysis. The energy-intensive counterpart of water splitting, oxygen evolution, can be replaced with urea oxidation in urea electrolysis. The low-cost, earth-abundant Ni-based catalysts are widely applied for this process. The main challenge associated with urea oxidation is retaining the prolonged activity of the catalyst as the strong adsorption of the reactive intermediate (COx) on the active site, referred to as catalyst poisoning, causes activity loss.

Towards this end, Mr. Alex C, Mr. Gaurav Shukla, Mr. Muhammed Safeer N. K., and Dr. Neena S John from the Centre for Nano and Soft Matter Sciences (CeNS), an autonomous institute of the Department of Science & Technology, Govt. of India have developed this Nickel oxide (NiOx) based system for producing hydrogen from electro-oxidation of urea.

In the series of research works published in the journals ‘Electrochimica Acta’ and ‘Journal of Materials Chemistry A, the scientists have explored electrocatalysts and shown that surface defective NiO and Ni2O3 systems having more Ni3+ ions are more efficient electrocatalysts than conventional NiO. They have used high-energy electron beams to produce surface defective unsaturated Ni sites in NiO (e-NiO). The study reveals that e-NiO prefers direct mechanism of urea electro-oxidation due to strong adsorption of urea molecule, whereas NiO favors indirect mechanism with low activity. Further, the prominent electrocatalyst poison COx could be removed by adjusting the molar ratio of KOH and Urea with improved kinetics.

The researchers, Alex and Gaurav, are of the opinion that the e-beam treatment is an effective way to produce a large number of coordinatively unsaturated active sites on electrocatalysts. It was observed that these generated sites effectively adsorb urea and favors direct urea electro-oxidation mechanism (UOR). The researcher, Safeer, continued the studies on another Ni3+ oxide system (Ni2O3), revealing that active species Ni3+O(OH) on Ni2O3 possess high COx tolerance than NiO. The active species of high valent Ni oxide system has a profound effect on catalyst activity.

The urea electrolysis is helpful towards urea-based waste treatment with low-cost hydrogen production. India is one of the top countries by urea production, and it produced 244.55 LMT of urea during 2019-20. The nitrogenous fertilizer industries generate a high concentration of ammonia and urea as effluents. This can be utilized for energy production towards our country's benefits.

9-Feb-2022: Hydrogen fuel for vehicles

Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has notified G.S.R. 889(E) dated 16th September, 2016, for use of Hydrogen as an automotive fuel in the country. The specifications for Hydrogen for Internal Combustion Engine have been specified in Annexure IV-W of the said notification. 18% blend of Hydrogen with CNG

(HCNG) has been notified by this Ministry vide G.S.R. 585(E) dated 25th September, 2020. This Ministry vide G.S.R. 579(E) dated 23rd September, 2020 has notified safety norms regarding hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and its components.

Ministry of New and Renewable Energy is implementing Renewable Energy Research and Technology Development programme to support research in various aspects of renewable energy including inter-alia hydrogen based transportation and fuel cell development. The ongoing R&D projects on hydrogen and fuel cells are as under:-

1. Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore has established a production plant for high purity hydrogen generation through biomass gasification.
2. ARCI Centre for Fuel Cell Technologies, Chennai is setting up an integrated automated manufacturing line for producing 20 kW PEM Fuel Cell stacks.
3. Dayalbagh Educational Institution has developed novel materials for Hydrogen production through Photo electrochemical splitting of water. Two patents were granted for materials developed under the project in 2021.
4. National Institute of Solar Energy, Gurgaon, under the project to establish a Centre of Excellence on Hydrogen Energy, have procured electrolyser and other equipment for augmenting the Green Hydrogen production capacity to demonstrate various applications including hydrogen fuelled vehicles.

30-Sep-2021: Unique technology for direct generation of Hydrogen from agricultural residue developed

Indian researchers have developed a unique technology for direct generation of Hydrogen from agricultural residue. This innovation by Indian researchers can promote eco-friendly hydrogen fuel-cell electric vehicles by overcoming the challenge of hydrogen availability.

India has set a target of 60% renewable energy of about 450 GW by 2030. To achieve this feat, in the current scenario, researchers all over the world are working towards renewable energy solutions which should be sustainable with a limited carbon footprint. One of the most economical ways to achieve this is to produce hydrogen from a cheap, abundant, and renewable source. Agricultural waste, which faces a great challenge for disposal, could be one of the sources of hydrogen production, and this could solve the dual problem of energy generation and waste disposal.

A team of researchers from Agharkar Research Institute, Pune, an autonomous institute of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), GOI, in collaboration with Sentient labs of KPIT Technologies, have developed this technology at lab-scale to extract hydrogen from agricultural residues.

“Our technology is 25% more efficient as compared to conventional anaerobic digestion processes used today. The two-stage process eliminates the pretreatment of biomass, thus making the process economical and environment friendly. This process generates a digestate that is rich in nutrients which can be used as an organic fertilizer,” said Dr. Prashant Dhakephalkar, Director of the ARI.

A team of scientists, Dr. S.S. Dagar and Pranav Kshirsagar from MACS-ARI and Sri Kaustubh Pathak from KPIT-Sentient, contributed significantly towards the development of the process. The developers of the technology explained that the hydrogen fuel generation process comprises the use of a specially developed microbial consortium that facilitates biodegradation of cellulose- and hemicellulose-rich agricultural residues, such as biomass of paddy, wheat, or maize, without thermo-chemical or enzymatic pretreatment. The process generates Hydrogen in the first stage and Methane in the second. The methane generated in the process can also be used to generate additional hydrogen, they added.

“This breakthrough of generating hydrogen from unutilized agricultural residue will help us to become self-reliant on energy resources. It will also add a major stream of revenue to the farmer community,” said Ravi Pandit, Chairman, Sentient Labs.  An Indian Patent application has been filed to protect the IPR.

29-Sep-2021: Large-scale reactor developed for cost-effective production of hydrogen using sunlight and water

A team of scientists have, for the first time, developed a large-scale reactor which produces a substantial amount of hydrogen using sustainable sources like sunlight and water, which is a cost-effective and sustainable process.

India has set a target of 450 GW of renewable energy by 2030. To achieve this feat, in the current scenario, researchers all over the world are working towards renewable energy solutions which should be sustainable with a limited carbon footprint. One of the most economical ways to achieve this is to produce hydrogen at a large scale through photocatalytic water splitting. It is the long-term persistent solution for the growing renewable energy needs and a low-cost economic process which will benefit society in the longer term. Thus significant efforts from scientists towards achieving this goal are utmost necessary and urgent need-of-the-hour.

In this direction, Dr. Kamalakannan Kailasam and his team, including Prof. Ashok K Ganguli, Dr. Vivek Bagchi, Dr. Sanyasinaidu Boddu, Dr. Prakash P N & Dr. Menaka Jha from the Institute of Nano Science and Technology (INST), Mohali, an autonomous institute of the Department of Science & Technology (DST), Govt. of India have developed a prototype reactor which operates under natural sunlight to produce hydrogen at a larger scale (around 6.1 L in 8 hours). They have used an earth-abundant chemical called carbon nitrides as a catalyst for the purpose.

The process had been attempted many times by many researchers using complex metal oxide/nitride/Sulphide based heterogeneous systems but was very difficult to reproduce in large quantities. The INST team employed the low-cost organic semiconductor in carbon nitrides which can be prepared using cheaper precursors like urea and melamine at ease in a kilogram scale. When the sunlight falls on this semiconductor, electrons, and holes are generated. The electrons reduced the protons to produce hydrogen, and holes are consumed by some chemical agents called sacrificial agents. If the holes are not consumed, then they will recombine with the electrons. This work is supported by the DST Nano Mission NATDP project, and the related article has been published in the ‘Journal of Cleaner Production’ recently, and the team is in the process of obtaining a patent for the technology.

The INST team has been working in this area of photocatalytic water splitting to generate hydrogen for quite some time now. “The energy crisis and ever-threatening climate crisis urged us to work on this promising way of hydrogen production through photocatalytic water splitting. The stability and chemical flexibility of having different organic groups in carbon nitrides triggered us to work on these cost-effective organic semiconductor materials for sustainable hydrogen production,” added Dr. Kamalakannan.

The INST team started from the lab-scale process to the bulk scale of developing the photocatalyst and hydrogen production through a large prototype reactor. The reactor is about 1 metre square, and the photocatalyst was coated in the form of panels where water flow is maintained. Upon natural sunlight irradiation, hydrogen production occurs and is quantified through gas chromatography. The team is in the process of optimising the hydrogen production with effective sunlight hours in addition to the purity of the hydrogen, moisture traps, and gas separation membranes so as to hyphenate with the fuel cells.

Hydrogen generated in this manner can be used in many forms like electricity generation through fuel cells in remote tribal areas, hydrogen stoves, and powering small gadgets, to mention a few. Eventually, they can power the transformers and e-vehicles, which are long-term research goals under progress.

7-Sep-2021: Ministry of Coal Constitutes Task Force and Expert Committee to Prepare Road Map for Coal based Hydrogen Production

On India’s 75th Independence Day, the Prime Minster announced a Hydrogen Mission. Coal is one of the important sources of hydrogen making (Brown Hydrogen) apart from Natural Gas (Grey hydrogen) and renewable energy (Green Hydrogen) through electrolysis. In case of renewable energy (Green Hydrogen) surplus solar power is used to electrolyze water into hydrogen and oxygen. The global emphasis is on substituting liquid fuels with hydrogen (as fuel in vehicles), storage of surplus renewable power as hydrogen (as power cannot be stored at a cost effective price), and cutting down emission.

Coal is one of the important sources of hydrogen making (Brown Hydrogen).

However, Coal has not been encouraged elsewhere because of the fear that while extracting hydrogen via coal (from the moisture embedded in coal) there may be carbon emission. Almost 100% of Hydrogen produced in India is through Natural Gas.

Globally, 73 MT Hydrogen is used for refining, ammonia making and other pure use and about 42 MT is used for Methanol, steel making and other mixed uses. Cost of Hydrogen produced from coal can be cheaper and less sensitive to imports when compared with hydrogen production through electrolysis and Natural Gas respectively.

Production of hydrogen from coal will have challenges in terms of high emissions and CCUS will play an important role. However, when the carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide formed during coal to hydrogen process are trapped and stored in an environmentally sustainable manner (CCS and CCUS), then, Indian coal reserves could become a great source of hydrogen.

In steel making, lots of work has been done on production of steel by use of Hydrogen. However, iron reduction through hydrogen is an endothermic reaction and will require lot of heat. This heat can be generated in DRI plants due to presence of CO in syn Gas being produced from coal gasification process.

In light of the above, Ministry of Coal has constituted 2 Committees today, one to oversee the program and another of experts to give guidance to the Ministry. This is aimed for contributing to PM's agenda of a hydrogen-based economy in a clean manner.

Task Force constituted under the Chairmanship of Shri Vinod Kumar Tiwari, Additional Secretary Coal has the following members:

1. Shri R.K. Malhotra, Director General (FIPI)/ Former Chairman & Director (R&D) IOCL
2. Project Adviser, MoC
3. JS level officers from MNRE, P&NG, Steel, Chemical and Fertiliser
4. Director level officer from CIL, NLCIL, IOCL, CMPDI, SAIL
5. Director (Tech.) MoC/CM Shri Peeyush Kumar - Member Secretary

The broad terms of reference of Task Force are as under:

1. Identification of role to be played by each stakeholder Ministry.
2. Coordination with Stakeholder Ministries.
3. Monitoring of activities towards achieving coal based Hydrogen production and usage.
4. Setting up sub committees to achieve the objective.
5. To coordinate with Coal Gasification Mission and NITI Aayog.

Further, the Expert Committee under the chairmanship of Shri R.K. Malhotra, Director General (FIPI)/ Former Chairman & Director (R&D) IOCL will have following members:

1. Dr. Mukesh Kumar, Director, Steel Research Technology Mission of India
2. Prof K.K. Pant, IIT Delhi
3. Dr. Anjan Ray, Indian Institute of Petroleum CSIR, Dehradun
4. Director, Engineers India Limited
5. Director(T) MoC/ Shri Peeyush Kumar, CM: Member Secretary

The broad terms of reference of Expert Committee is as follows:

1. Identifying experts in India and co-opting as members.
2. Desk based review of progress in hydrogen technology and also review ongoing research projects in Hydrogen technology.
3. Coordinate with various national/international technology institutions in hydrogen.
4. Prepare a road map for coal based Hydrogen production and usage including economic viability, environmental sustainability and policy enablers required.
5. Identifying activities for implementation of coal based hydrogen production and usage.
6. Assisting Task force in implementation of Coal based Hydrogen production and usage.

 The expert committee is expected to submit the report in three months.

17-Aug-2021: UK expresses willingness for collaborating with India on Green Hydrogen

India has already retired 16369 MW of inefficient thermal units till March, 2021. This was stated by the Union Minister of Power and Renewable Energy, Shri RK Singh, in a meeting with the Rt Hon Alok Sharma, COP 26 President, here today. The COP26 President had raised the topic of phasing out of coal fired power plants, in the meeting. Secretary (Power), Secretary (MNRE) and High Commissioner of UK in India were also present.

The Rt Hon Alok Sharma expressed the willingness of the UK side for collaborating with India on Green Hydrogen.

The UK side requested India’s support for organizing a successful COP26.

Shri RK Singh expressed India’s interest in collaborating with the UK on offshore wind. He also stressed on the need of the developed and developing countries to work together for bringing down the cost of storage.  He informed the delegation that India is the only G20 country whose actions are in accordance with the NDCs set by them under the Paris Agreement.

During the meeting, discussions were held on the need of increasing storage capacity in view of India’s ambitious target of having 450 GW of installed Renewable Capacity by 2030.The UK side was invited to participate in the upcoming bids for Green Hydrogen and lithium-ion.

5-Aug-2021: Promotion of Hydrogen as automotive Fuel

In her Budget Speech on 1 February 2021, the Finance Minister announced the launch of a Hydrogen Energy Mission in 2021-22 for generating Hydrogen from green power sources. Accordingly, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has drafted a National Hydrogen Energy Mission document which would inter-alia aim to scale up Green Hydrogen production and utilization across multiple sectors, including transportation. The draft Mission document is currently under inter-ministerial consultation. Further, in September 2016, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has notified Hydrogen as a fuel for automotive application for Bharat Stage VI vehicles. In September 2020, MoRTH has specified the safety and type approval requirements for hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in Automotive Industry Standard (AIS) 157. Also, in September 2020, 18% blend of Hydrogen with CNG (HCNG) has been notified as an automotive fuel.

An R&D project titled “Design and Development of 20 kW Low Temperature Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell with high indigenous content” has been sanctioned by MNRE to International Advanced Research Centre for Powder Metallurgy and New Materials, Chennai at a total project cost of Rs 21.42 crores (with MNRE share of Rs 17.74 crore). Rs 7.9 crores has been released under this project in 2019-2020. Further, Department of Science and Technology has launched Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Program and Advanced Hydrogen and Fuel Cell program to support research on Hydrogen and Fuel Cell. The details of the funds released by DST for research and development of Hydrogen. Year Funds Released 2019-20 Rs.20,38,28,770/- 2020-21 Rs.83,01,158/-

Various hydrogen powered vehicles have been developed and demonstrated under projects supported by Government of India. These include 6 Fuel Cell buses (by Tata Motors Ltd.), 50 hydrogen enriched CNG (H-CNG) buses in Delhi(by Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. in collaboration with Govt. of NCT of Delhi), 2 hydrogen fuelled Internal Combustion Engine buses (by IIT Delhi in collaboration with Mahindra & Mahindra), fifteen hydrogen fuelled 3-wheelers (by IIT Delhi in collaboration with Mahindra & Mahindra), 2 Hydrogen-Diesel dual fuel cars(by Mahindra & Mahindra) and one fuel cell car (by CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory, CSIR-Central Electrochemical Laboratory and CSIR-National Physical Laboratory).

4-Aug-2021: New method of producing hydrogen from water using magnets shows energy-efficient route to manufacturing of the fuel

Indian researchers have come up with an innovative hydrogen manufacture route which increases its production three times and lowers the energy required that could pave the path towards environment-friendly hydrogen fuel at a lower cost.

As a fuel, hydrogen has a critical role to play in driving the paradigm shift towards a green and sustainable economy. In addition to having about 3-fold higher calorific value compared to non-renewable energy sources such as coal and gasoline, the combustion of hydrogen to release energy produces water and is thus completely non-polluting. Due to the extremely low abundance of molecular hydrogen in the earth’s atmosphere (350 ppbv), electric-field driven breakdown of water is an attractive route for production of hydrogen. However, such electrolysis requires high energy input and is associated with slow rate of hydrogen production. The use of expensive platinum- and iridium-based catalysts also discourages it for wide-spread commercialization. Therefore, the transition to ‘green-hydrogen-economy’ demands approaches that lower the energy cost and material cost and simultaneously improve the hydrogen production rate.

A team of researchers from IIT Bombay led by Prof. C. Subramaniam have come up with an innovative route that provides viable solutions to all these challenges. It involves electrolysis of water in the presence of an external magnetic field. In this method, the same system that produces 1 ml of hydrogen gas required 19% lower energy to produce 3 ml of hydrogen in the same time. This is achieved by synergistically coupling the electric and magnetic fields at the catalytic site.

The simple approach also provides the capability to retrofit any existing electrolyser (that uses electricity to break water into hydrogen and oxygen) with external magnets without drastic change in the design, leading to increased energy efficiency of H2 production. This proof-of-concept demonstration for producing hydrogen has been published in ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering.

The electrocatalytic material -- cobalt-oxide nanocubes that are dispersed over hard-carbon based nanostructured carbon florets, is of prime importance to achieve this effect and was developed with the support of the Department of Science & Technology’s Material for Energy Storage program at Technology Mission Division. It was put to use for magneto-electrocatalysis through the DST-SERB grant.

The interface between the carbon and cobalt oxide is key to magneto-electrocatalysis. It is advantageous as it forms a system that does not require the constant presence of the external magnetic field and is able to sustain the magnetisation for prolonged time periods; the magnitude of the enhancements achieved (650% increase in current density, 19% lowering of energy required and a 3-fold increase in volumetric hydrogen production rate) is unparalleled, the intermittent magnetic field required is similar to what a fridge magnet can provide. This route can be directly adopted in existing electrolyzers without any change in design or mode of operation and one-time exposure of magnetic field for 10 minutes is enough to achieve the high rate of hydrogen production for over 45 minutes.

“The intermittent use of an external magnetic field provides a new direction for achieving energy-efficient hydrogen generation. Other catalysts can also be explored for this purpose,” says Prof. Subramaniam. “A basic electrolyser cell of 0.5 nm3/h capacity can be immediately upgraded to a 1.5 nm3/h capacity by replacing the catalysts and supplying the magnetic field”, added Jayeeta Saha and Ranadeb Ball, students who were supported by the DST funding.

Having shown that the method is not very complicated either, the team is now working with an industrial partner to increase the TRL level and ensure its successful commercialization.

“Given the importance of hydrogen-based economy, we aim to implement the project in a mission-mode and realise an indigenous magneto-electrolytic hydrogen generator,” says Prof. Subramaniam. If their efforts are successful, we might be looking at an environmentally friendly fuel, hydrogen, replacing petroleum, diesel, and compressed natural gas (CNG) in the future, he added.

18-Feb-2021: “Statement of Intent” signed between Indian Oil and Greenstat Hydrogen India Pvt. Ltd for setting up of Centre of Excellence for Hydrogen

Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas & Steel Shri Dharmendra Pradhan today witnessed the signing of a Statement of Intent between Indian Oil Corp. Ltd. and M/s Greenstat Hydrogen India Pvt. Ltd., a subsidiary of Greenstat Norway for setting up of Centre of Excellence on Hydrogen. This association aims to develop a Center of Excellence on Hydrogen (CoE-H) including CCUS and Fuel Cells by Indian Oil and M/s Greenstat for clean energy in cooperation with Indo-Norwegian Hydrogen Cluster companies/organizations.

The CoE-H will facilitate transfer and sharing of technology, know-how and experience through the green Hydrogen value chain and other relevant technologies including hydrogen storage and fuel cells. The CoE-H will be a vehicle for promoting R&D projects in Green and Blue Hydrogen between Norwegian and Indian R&D institutions/universities. Working closely with Industry and Governments on both sides, CoE-H will be levering its intellectual strengths in developing cost-efficient and scalable and sustainable technological solutions. The CoE will also pilot fuel cell research. The institute will also act as a think-tank towards developing codes and standards for best industrial practices, safety, product protocols and regulations in the area of hydrogen and fuel cells. The partnership between Indian Oil and Greenstat will actively assist partners/stakeholders to develop business models based upon feasibility studies besides facilitating consultancies to industry, utilities and regulators on hydrogen storage, hydrogen production, refueling stations, fuel cells and CCUS technologies.

Speaking on the occasion, Shri Pradhan talked about the importance, Government of India is giving to exploration of new and emerging forms of energy. About India’s energy consumption, he said that India is the third-largest energy consumer with growing energy demand, making it the place to be, for any energy entrepreneur in any part of the globe. He called for greater synergy between science, technology and entrepreneurship to create win-win for all.

Speaking about hydrogen energy, Minister Pradhan said, “We see hydrogen as the future energy.” He also expressed happiness at the encouraging results being shown by the pilot project under which 50 buses in Delhi are running on hydrogen-CNG fuel.

Speaking about Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s vision of energy justice, he said that it encompasses energy affordability, energy efficiency and energy sustainability. “Despite India not being a polluting country, India is committed to reducing its emissions and contributing to the global fight against climate change, in line with Hon. Prime Minister’s commitment at the COP21”, he further added.

Ambassador of Norway to India HE Mr. Hans Jacob Frydenlund while speaking on the occasion, said that in the efforts to combat global climate change, use of green and renewable energy is paramount. He talked about Norway’s strength and experience in green energy and expressed willingness to work together with India in the area of hydrogen energy. He also expressed happiness at the signing of statement of intent.

Speaking at the 3rd Global Renewable Energy Investment Meeting and Expo in November 2020, Hon’ble Prime Minister Narendra Modi had highlighted the importance of niche renewable technologies like hydrogen in the renewable energy mix. Pursuant to that, launch of the National Hydrogen Energy Mission was announced in the budget 2021-22. The National Hydrogen Energy Mission aims to lay down the Government of India’s vision, intent and direction for hydrogen energy, strategies and approaches for realizing the vision.

A pilot project for blending hydrogen with compressed natural gas for use as transportation fuel is running at Rajghat Bus depot in Delhi. Under this pilot, 50 buses in Delhi are plying on blended Hydrogen in Compressed Natural Gas and result are extremely encouraging.

2-Feb-2022: Ministry of New and Renewable Energy issues simplified procedure to install rooftop solar plant for the residential consumers

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has issued simplified procedure for the residential  consumers  to get the rooftop solar plant installed by themselves or through any vendor of their choice under the Rooftop Solar Programme.

The new simplified procedure will be as follows:

1. A national portal for registering applications from the beneficiary, approval thereof and tracking progress will be developed. There will be a portal in the similar format at the level of the DISCOMs and both the portal will be linked.
2. The household beneficiary, who wishes to install Rooftop Solar (RTS) under the new mechanism will apply on the national portal. The beneficiary will be required to submit necessary information including details of bank account where the subsidy amount will be transferred. At the time of application, the beneficiary will be informed about the complete process and subsidy amount that can be availed for installation of the RTS plant.
3. The application will be forwarded online to the concerned DISCOM for issuance of technical feasibility approval within next 15 working days. After the application is transferred to the DISCOM it will also be displayed on the DISCOM portal.
4. After obtaining technical feasibility, the beneficiary will install the RTS plant from any vendor of his choice by selecting solar modules fulfilling the conditions of DCR and enlistment under ALMM and inverters which are certified by J3IS. The list of empaneled vendors will be provided on the portal. In order to ensure quality and post installation services, MNRE will issue standards and specifications for RTS plant and a format of agreement to be executed between beneficiary and the vendor. The agreement among other terms and conditions will have the provision to ensure that the RTS plant installed meets safety and performance standards and that the vendor would maintain the plant for next 5 years or higher period as per terms of the agreement.
5. The beneficiary has to install its plant within a specified period otherwise his application will be cancelled and he has to re-apply for installation of RTS plant.
6. Upon installation of RTS plant, the beneficiary will apply for net-metering on the national portal, which will be forwarded online to the concerned DISCOM. The concerned DISCOM will either procure and install the net-meter or it will advise the beneficiary to procure the net-meter as per prescribed specifications and get it tested from the DISCOM authorized lab. The decision of the DISCOM will be posted on the portal.
7. After installation of the net-meter, the DISCOM officer will submit a commissioning and inspection report on the national portal, which will also be reflected on the DISCOM portal.
8. On receiving the inspection report, the subsidy will be released directly in the bank account of the beneficiary by the DISCOM.
9. The whole process will be monitored and a grievance redressal mechanism will be put in place.

It is expected that the national portal will be developed in about six to eight weeks. Till the national portal comes into operation, the existing procedure for availing subsidy for installation of rooftop solar plant through DISCOMs will continue and will be the only authorized procedure to avail subsidy from MNRE. After the National portal set up, the beneficiary will have the choice of installing RTS availing either of the options.

The general public may be advised not to trust any misleading/spurious information being published on websites/social media particularly asking for registration fee or other payment for getting Government of India subsidy for installation of rooftop solar plants. Authentic information in this regard will be made available on the official website of Ministry www.mnre.gov.in or on SPIN portal www.solarrooftop.gov.in.