India Energy Week 2026

In a significant step towards advancing Goa’s clean-energy transition, the Honorable Chief Minister of Goa, Shri Dr. Pramod Sawant, today formally handed over the Letter of Intent (LoI) for the preparation of the Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the Goa Hydrogen Valley Innovation Cluster (GHVIC) to Prof. Suman Kundu, Director, and Prof. Ramakrishna Ramanath Sonde, Senior Professor Emeritus, BITS Pilani, K. K. Birla Goa Campus. Prof Shibu Clement and Prof Abhishek Sharma from BITS Pilani K K Birla Goa Campus were also present.

This event took place at the India Energy Week 2026 venue at the ONGC Advanced Training Institute (ATI), Goa, in the august presence of Mr. Michel Heijdra, Vice Minister of Climate Policy and Green Growth, Kingdom of the Netherlands, and the Embassy Staff Kingdom of Netherlands highlighting the strong Indo-Dutch collaboration underpinning the initiative.

The Goa Hydrogen Valley Innovation Cluster is envisaged as a pioneering, internationally co-designed clean-energy initiative aligned with India’s National Green Hydrogen Mission and Goa’s long-term sustainability and economic development goals. The Government of Goa, through this LoI, has expressed its in-principle intent to engage BITS Pilani, Goa Campus, for preparing a comprehensive and implementation-ready DPR for the project.

The DPR will be prepared over a six-month period with a grant support of ₹80 lakhs, under the leadership of Prof. R. R. Sonde, with Prof Shibu Clement, Prof Abhishek Sharma and other faculty members as co-investigators to the project and in consortium with the University of Groningen (The Netherlands), the Netherlands Innovation Network India, and in close coordination with the Goa Energy Development Agency (GEDA).

The DPR aims to provide a robust, data-driven, and globally benchmarked roadmap for establishing the Goa Hydrogen Valley Innovation Cluster. Key objectives include:

• Assessment of Goa’s hydrogen potential, including renewable-energy resources, biomass availability, and demand mapping across industry, mobility, ports, and utilities and propose to set up a complete value chain on Hydrogen from production, compression, storage, conversion and finally a few critical applications most appropriate to the State of Goa at a scale which can be then upscaled. Thus, it will be a living laboratory for many stake holders in green energy space who can participate / collaborate to make Goa’s net zero journey in sync with national commitments.
• Identification of suitable technology pathways, covering green hydrogen production, storage, distribution, and end-use applications relevant to Goa
• Techno-economic analysis of hydrogen value chains, including cost modelling, risk assessment, and scalability
• Site identification and infrastructure planning for pilot and demonstration-scale hydrogen facilities
• Development of an implementation roadmap, governance structure, and policy alignment with State and national frameworks
• International benchmarking and best-practice adoption, drawing from Dutch and European hydrogen valley models
• Capacity building and skill-development pathways, including academic collaboration and research exchange programs

The initiative reflects the strong confidence reposed by the Government of Goa in BITS Pilani to deliver advanced technologies, innovative solutions, and globally aligned frameworks that can drive sustainable economic growth, clean-energy adoption, and high-quality employment in the State.

This will also identify the gaps in the current state-of-art in the entire hydrogen value chain and ensure that use-inspired R&D is taken up in the academic community of BITS campuses for doing a deep dive in the R&D space to make hydrogen economically viable option. Research infrastructure will also get developed along with the GHVIC.

The Goa Hydrogen Valley Innovation Cluster is expected to position Goa as a national reference state for hydrogen-based energy transition and strengthen India’s engagement with leading international clean-energy ecosystems.