Ahmedabad, July 31 (IANS) Deendayal Port Authority (DPA) in Gujarat’s Kandla has commissioned the country’s first ‘Make in India’ 1-megawatt capacity green hydrogen plant.

The plant was operationalised just four months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation for a 10 MW green hydrogen facility during his visit to Bhuj in May 2025.

With this, Kandla becomes the first Indian port to house a megawatt-scale indigenous green hydrogen facility, underlining Gujarat’s growing role in renewable energy and sustainable infrastructure.

The plant was inaugurated by Union Minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways, Sarbananda Sonowal, in the presence of Minister Shantanu Thakur, Ministry Secretary T.K. Ramachandran, DPA Chairman Sushil Kumar Singh, and other senior officials.

Highlighting the project’s rapid execution, Minister Sonowal praised the DPA for achieving a major engineering feat in record time.

“In just four months since the foundation stone of the 10 MW plant was laid, the first 1 MW module has become operational – setting a new benchmark for India’s green hydrogen sector,” he said.

The facility is expected to produce approximately 140 metric tonnes of green hydrogen annually, significantly contributing to decarbonising maritime operations and enhancing India’s position in environment-friendly port management. The minister also lauded DPA’s prior achievements in green initiatives, including commissioning India’s first fully electric ‘Make in India’ tug.

He emphasised that the development of a self-reliant hydrogen ecosystem, engineered entirely by Indian experts, sets an inspiring precedent for other ports to adopt sustainable and future-ready technologies.

Applauding the L&T engineering team and the entire DPA staff, Sonowal called the successful commissioning of this complex project a “landmark in India’s clean energy mission”, aligned with the broader vision of ‘Healthy India, Prosperous India’.

Commissioned in 1952, it handles a significant share of India’s cargo traffic and has consistently ranked among the top five major ports in terms of cargo volume.

In FY 2023–24, DPA handled over 130 million tonnes of cargo, including crude oil, fertilisers, coal, and containers.

The port boasts state-of-the-art infrastructure, including multi-cargo berths, a container terminal, and dedicated freight corridors, and is a critical hub for India’s energy imports and industrial exports.

–IANS

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