Green Hydrogen Plant Setup — Licences, Approvals & Mission Support

At least five approvals: incorporation with PAN and GST, a Consent to Establish and then a Consent to Operate from the State Pollution Control Board, a licence under the SMPV(U) Rules, 2016, factory approvals and a fire safety certificate. Green hydrogen certification follows once you sell. We give you the exact list for your site before you spend on any of it.

It is MNRE’s definition of green hydrogen, notified on 21 August 2023. Hydrogen produced from renewable energy counts as green only if well-to-gate emissions, including water treatment, electrolysis, gas purification, drying and compression, are not more than 2 kg of CO₂ equivalent per kg of hydrogen, taken as an average over the last 12 months. The Bureau of Energy Efficiency accredits the agencies that verify this, so good metering keeps you safely inside the limit.

Yes, where hydrogen is stored in pressure vessels beyond the limits in the Static and Mobile Pressure Vessels (Unfired) Rules, 2016. Compressed gas storage is licensed in Form LS-1A, granted by the Chief Controller of Explosives or a Controller he authorises. The June 2025 amendment, G.S.R. 374(E), added rules for compressed and liquefied hydrogen and extended licence validity from five to ten years. You will need a registered title or lease document and the layout. Your engineers supply the technical drawings and we handle the filing.

SIGHT stands for Strategic Interventions for Green Hydrogen Transition, the main incentive programme under the National Green Hydrogen Mission. It has an outlay of ₹17,490 crore out of the Mission’s ₹19,744 crore and two financial incentive mechanisms: one for domestic manufacturing of electrolysers and one for production of green hydrogen. Incentives come through bids, not on application. We get your company, consent and financial papers ready so the bid is not let down by missing documents.

No law requires it, though most developers set one up. A separate private limited company keeps the plant’s assets, loans and contracts apart from the group’s other businesses, which lenders and offtake buyers like. If you are adding hydrogen inside an existing factory, your current entity may work, and we will tell you which route suits you.

Your State Pollution Control Board confirms the category for your process and capacity. CPCB places industries in Red, Orange, Green or White by pollution index; White units need only an intimation. The category decides the fee, documents and processing time. Since the January 2026 amendment, a Consent to Operate stays valid until cancelled. We confirm the category with the Board before filing.

Plan for several months, run in parallel with design and construction. Two legal clocks run in your favour: pollution consent is deemed granted after four months under Section 25(7) of the Water Act, and factory plan permission is deemed granted after three months under Section 6(2) of the Factories Act. The real delays come from incomplete land papers and late drawings, so starting the corporate and consent files early keeps approvals off your critical path.

No. We are a CA and CS firm, so we handle company formation, applications, documents, portal filings, liaison with departments and ongoing compliance. Plant design, hazard studies, testing and emission verification are done by your engineers, accredited agencies and the authorities themselves. We coordinate with them and turn their reports into complete applications, so every filing goes in complete and on time.