Yet another move by Maruti Suzuki India Limited toward cleaner auto manufacturing comes in the form of a new 300kW Green Hydrogen (GH2) electrolyzer pilot plant installed at their Manesar manufacturing plant in the state of Haryana. The move clearly reflects Maruti Suzuki India Limited's efforts toward the adoption of renewable energy sources and decreased reliance on traditional fossil fuel-based energy in their manufacturing processes.
The new GH2 plant will help Maruti Suzuki India Limited take advantage of the renewable energy generated by the Manesar manufacturing plant. An issue with renewable energy is that sometimes the generation of renewable energy sources such as solar power is not always consistent with demand. At times, the renewable energy generated during holidays or when there is no activity in the manufacturing plant is not utilized. The GH2 plant at Manesar manufacturing plant allows the conversion of this excess renewable energy into hydrogen.
517.1) From Sunlight to Hydrogen
The fundamental premise of the project is electrolysis. In electrolyzers, electricity is employed to dissociate water into hydrogen and oxygen. If the electricity that is used in this case is generated from renewable sources such as solar, then the resultant hydrogen can be called green hydrogen.
In the case of the project at Manesar, the hydrogen generated through the 300 kW electrolyzer is going to be stored and blended with the natural gas to be used as process fuel. Such a method will allow for reducing the consumption of natural gas in industrial processes while at the same time improving the use of renewable electricity.
The significance of the project lies in the fact that it focuses on the utilization of hydrogen not only as a fuel for vehicles but also as an industrial energy carrier. Industrial plants need large amounts of energy for certain processes including heating and other thermal processes. Green hydrogen might become part of the solution for these cases.
517.2) A Pilot with Larger Ambitions
Maruti Suzuki refers to the Manesar plant as a pilot project, which means that apart from being a means of making immediate profits, it is aimed at gaining some experience in working with green hydrogen technologies. In particular, it is planned to transfer the knowledge acquired in the course of this project into other plants owned by the company in Haryana and Gujarat.
Such a step can be viewed within a wider framework of the development of renewable energy technologies at Maruti Suzuki. Thus, in 2025, it installed 10 MWp of solar power at Manesar, while also completing a 20 MWp solar project at its Kharkhoda plant. At the same time, Maruti Suzuki targeted 319 MWp of total solar power by FY 2030-31, with renewables to provide 85% of the company's energy consumption needs in the coming years.
The company is also developing other renewable energy sources. In 2026, it launched the expansion of its biogas project in Manesar, increasing its capacity from 0.2 to 0.7 tonnes per day and allocating ₹925 crore for green energy projects until FY 2030-31.
517.3) What It Means for India’s Auto Industry
Manesar Hydrogen Plant serves as an example of how renewable energy can be connected with an industrial system. Instead of using batteries or directly connecting renewable energy sources with industry, there is another way to utilize renewable energy – creating hydrogen for later application by industrial process when needed.
Thus, for Maruti Suzuki, this pilot could be a good source of information about the process of hydrogen generation, storage, blending, safety, efficiency and industrial hydrogen application in general. If the technology proves to be efficient in a bigger scale, the same system could be implemented in different manufacturing plants.
Thus, the commissioning of the Manesar Green Hydrogen plant is not just commissioning of new facilities but the experiment that shows how a large automobile manufacturer is going to connect its production with renewable energy via hydrogen and solar energy.
With respect to India’s aspirations to eventually achieve net zero, efforts like that being attempted by Maruti Suzuki at Manesar may go some way in illustrating how future technologies can be integrated into India’s huge manufacturing industry. Success of the project will, of course, hinge on many issues like efficiency, cost, availability of hydrogen, etc., but its commissioning represents a significant step in investigating how hydrogen might play a part in greener industrial manufacturing.
Team Yuva Aaveg-
Adarsh Tiwari
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