National Green Hydrogen Mission: MNRE Sets November 2 Deadline for Safety Experts

Before India's green hydrogen output reaches commercial scale, the government is building the technical capacity to police it.

Technical support for India's Hydrogen Safety Panel is now open to bids. The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) issued an Expression of Interest on 14 October 2026 seeking an expert institution to back the panel under the National Green Hydrogen Mission (NGHM), with submissions due by 2 November.

Safety Capacity Has to Precede Production Scale

The mission, approved by the Union Cabinet in January 2023 with an outlay of ₹19,744 crore, targets 5 million metric tonnes of green hydrogen production a year by 2030. Meeting that target means pipelines, storage and refuelling sites handling a gas that ignites across a wide range of concentrations in air and can weaken steel over time. Engineering-grade safety review is the prerequisite for lenders, insurers and state permitting authorities to back projects at that scale.

The MNRE notice page lists only the bid window. Scope of work, contract value and eligibility thresholds sit in the attached EoI document.

What to Watch

Bids close on 2 November 2026. The choice of institution will indicate whether MNRE is drawing on domestic research bodies or international hydrogen safety expertise. The larger question is whether the panel's work becomes binding standards through the Bureau of Indian Standards and the Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation, or stays advisory.

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