BHEL and thyssenkrupp nucera Team Up to Build India's Own Green-Hydrogen Electrolysers

A pact to localise the machine that splits water

On 7 July 2026, Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL), India's state-owned power-and-engineering giant, signed a Strategic Collaboration Agreement (SCA) with thyssenkrupp nucera India, the local subsidiary of the German electrolysis-technology specialist thyssenkrupp nucera, to jointly develop and manufacture alkaline electrolyser systems inside India.

The electrolyser is the beating heart of green hydrogen. It is a stack of cells that uses renewable electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen, with no carbon emitted along the way. Today almost all of that hardware — and nearly all of the engineering know-how behind it — is imported into India. The BHEL–thyssenkrupp nucera agreement is a deliberate attempt to change that equation, moving both the manufacturing and, over time, the design competence onto Indian soil.

Why alkaline, and why now

There are two mainstream ways to make green hydrogen at scale: alkaline electrolysis and proton-exchange-membrane (PEM) electrolysis. PEM is more compact and responds faster to a fluctuating renewable supply, but it is costlier and leans on scarce materials. Alkaline electrolysis is the older, more mature and cheaper route, and for the large, steady-state industrial plants India is targeting first — fertiliser, refining, steel — it remains the workhorse technology.

The timing is set by policy. Under the National Green Hydrogen Mission, India has committed to building roughly five million tonnes of annual green-hydrogen production capacity by 2030, backed by production and manufacturing incentives under the SIGHT (Strategic Interventions for Green Hydrogen Transition) programme. Meeting that target implies installing gigawatts of electrolyser capacity this decade. Industry estimates cited around the announcement put the domestic electrolyser opportunity at roughly 20,000 crore by 2030. If those machines are all imported, the mission's import bill balloons and its self-reliance logic weakens.

What each side brings

thyssenkrupp nucera carries decades of electrochemical engineering, rooted in the chlor-alkali industry and extended into large-scale water electrolysis, along with a proven alkaline electrolyser design. BHEL brings something India's hydrogen ecosystem badly needs: heavy-manufacturing scale, a nationwide fabrication and power-equipment footprint, and the project-execution muscle to build, install and commission large industrial systems.

Under the agreement, the two will pursue a phased indigenisation of alkaline electrolyser module fabrication in India — gradually shifting components and manufacturing processes to domestic facilities rather than assembling imported kits. The companies also plan to jointly participate in tendering for green-hydrogen projects and to support project developers through execution.

The localisation question

The word doing the heavy lifting is "phased". A localisation plan that begins with assembly and only slowly moves up the value chain to stacks, electrodes and membranes is common in Indian manufacturing tie-ups, and it is where the real test lies. The value — and the strategic payoff — sits in the cell stack and its materials, not in the balance-of-plant. How quickly the partnership pushes indigenous content into those higher-value layers will determine whether this is genuine technology transfer or sophisticated import substitution.

For BHEL, the deal deepens a hydrogen ambition it has been signalling for a while, adding a mature electrolyser platform to a portfolio that already spans conventional and renewable power equipment. For thyssenkrupp nucera, it buys a manufacturing and delivery partner in one of the few markets where green-hydrogen demand is being underwritten by direct government incentives.

Where it fits in India's hydrogen push

The electrolyser tie-up lands amid a broader thickening of India's green-hydrogen supply chain. SECI's SIGHT auctions have already pushed green-ammonia and hydrogen prices to record lows, electrolyser manufacturing incentives have been awarded to a first wave of firms, and a certification framework is coming online. What has been conspicuously thin is domestic capability in the electrolyser itself — the one piece of equipment on which the whole mission depends.

A strategic collaboration agreement is a framework, not a finished factory, and the schedule for first indigenous units was not disclosed. But by pairing a global electrolyser design with BHEL's manufacturing base, the deal targets exactly the gap that has left India's hydrogen ambitions dependent on foreign hardware. If the partnership delivers, the machines that split India's water could increasingly be built in India too.

Sources

• BHEL inks pact with thyssenkrupp nucera for building alkaline electrolyser system in India — Business Standard
• BHEL enters into Strategic Tie-up with thyssenkrupp nucera India for Alkaline Electrolyser Systems — BHEL
• BHEL Partners With thyssenkrupp nucera India To Boost Green Hydrogen Manufacturing — SolarQuarter