Maruti Suzuki India announced the commissioning of a 300 kW Green Hydrogen (GH₂) electrolyser plant at its Manesar manufacturing facility in Haryana on Thursday. According to the company's regulatory filing, this marks the automaker's first such plant as it seeks to reduce fossil-fuel use in manufacturing operations. The pilot plant will utilize surplus solar power generated at the Manesar facility during holidays to produce green hydrogen, which will be stored and subsequently blended with natural gas for use as process fuel in manufacturing operations. The project maximises the utilisation of the solar energy generated at the company's Manesar facility, representing a significant step in the automaker's renewable energy strategy. Based on the learnings from the pilot, Maruti Suzuki plans to scale up the adoption of green hydrogen technology across its manufacturing facilities in Haryana and Gujarat.
The hydrogen project forms part of Maruti Suzuki's broader shift towards multiple renewable-energy sources for manufacturing operations. As reported by The Economic Times, the company is adopting a diverse array of green solutions to advance its efforts to reduce carbon emissions across its manufacturing operations, which includes solar power plants, renewable energy procurement from government sources, and power purchase agreements with third-party providers for solar and wind-based energy. The automaker is in advanced stages of setting up a 10 Tonnes Per Day (TPD) biogas plant at its Kharkhoda facility, which will be commissioned within FY 2026-27. The company had additionally commissioned a 1 MWh Battery Energy Storage System at its Kharkhoda facility and has begun integrating compressed biogas (CBG) as process fuel. Its board has approved four compressed biogas projects with a total budget allocation of ₹561 crore.
According to the company's board approval, four compressed biogas projects with a budget of ₹5,610 million have been sanctioned. In June, Maruti Suzuki announced plans to invest ₹925 crore by FY31 towards green-energy initiatives, including biogas projects. The company aims to reduce its manufacturing carbon footprint from the current 615,000 tonnes to 266,000 tonnes by FY2030-31, as stated in the company release. Meanwhile, the firm's parent company Suzuki Motor Corporation (SMC) has partnered with the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) and dairy industry unions to set up 10 biogas plants across India, three of which are already operational in Gujarat.
Speaking on the pilot initiative, Maruti Suzuki India Limited Managing Director & CEO Hisashi Takeuchi emphasized the strategic importance of clean energy transition. "The commissioning of our 300 kW green hydrogen plant is aligned with the Government of India's Green Hydrogen Mission. This, along with the expansion of solar, biogas and installation of battery energy storage systems, reflects our commitment to transition to cleaner and sustainable energy solutions," Takeuchi stated. He highlighted that India is emerging as a manufacturing powerhouse, and its competitive position may not depend solely on cost and quality, but also on CO2 intensity. "With such initiatives, we are building capability today so that we can support a low-carbon and more energy-efficient manufacturing ecosystem tomorrow," Takeuchi added. The company's competitive position as a manufacturing hub would increasingly depend not just on cost and quality but also on the carbon intensity of production.
