Hystar and BHEL Sign Deal to Manufacture PEM Electrolysers Inside India
Norway's Hystar brings proton exchange membrane electrolyser technology to BHEL in a phased domestic manufacturing partnership targeting India's green hydrogen industry.
Norwegian electrolyser maker Hystar and state-owned Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited have signed a strategic collaboration agreement to enable the phased local manufacturing of ultra-efficient proton exchange membrane electrolysers in India, Asian Power reported on Monday (2026-08-17). The deal pairs specialist PEM technology from Norway with one of India's largest engineering firms, giving the partnership both technical expertise and domestic manufacturing infrastructure.3
PEM electrolysers split water using electricity to produce hydrogen without combustion emissions. India currently relies almost entirely on imported electrolyser equipment, which adds cost and supply chain risk to green hydrogen projects and leaves any large-scale domestic industry dependent on foreign procurement timelines. The phased structure of the BHEL agreement signals that volume manufacturing will build incrementally rather than arrive quickly.3
India's renewable energy build-out is what makes the partnership credible in the first place. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has set a target of 500 gigawatts of renewable capacity by 2030, and over the past five years more than 80% of India's newly installed generating capacity has come from the renewable sector, the Economist reported in May 2026. That growing base of solar and wind output is the low-cost electricity electrolysers need to produce green hydrogen at competitive cost.1
Private capital is running well ahead of government timelines in parts of this build-out. Gautam Adani is constructing a 730-square-kilometre solar and wind farm at Khavda near the Pakistan border, with 30 gigawatts of capacity that could supply roughly 4% of India's current electricity consumption on completion, the Economist reported. Adani has separately targeted 45 gigawatts of total renewable capacity by 2030. Together with Mukesh Ambani, the two largest Indian industrial conglomerates plan a combined $150 billion in renewables investment over the coming decade.1
Industrial demand for clean power is also starting to firm. Hindalco Industries, a major aluminium producer, has emerged as a significant new customer for clean electricity, the Economist reported, a sign that energy-intensive manufacturers are beginning to seek lower-carbon power sources.2
The incentive for India extends beyond commercial calculation. Coal-fired power plants remain the dominant electricity source and a major driver of the outdoor air quality crisis the Economist linked to around one million deaths in India in 2019, alongside indoor air pollution from solid fuels accounting for a further estimated 600,000. A sustained shift toward renewables and hydrogen in power generation and industrial heat would reduce both.1
Yet the Hystar-BHEL agreement leaves significant commercial questions unanswered. The deal is described as a strategic collaboration, not a production contract, and neither output volumes, cost targets, nor manufacturing timelines have been made public. Green hydrogen remains considerably more expensive to produce than grey hydrogen from natural gas, and India has yet to see a large-scale project meet government cost benchmarks. Whether BHEL's manufacturing involvement brings unit costs down or simply relocates the same expense onshore has not been established.3
Norway's contribution through Hystar is technical. PEM technology carries efficiency advantages over alkaline electrolysis, particularly when paired with variable renewable generation, because it responds faster to fluctuating power inputs from solar and wind. How rapidly BHEL absorbs that expertise and reaches competitive manufacturing costs is the question the phased structure leaves open.3
Additional foreign electrolyser manufacturers entering India in the months ahead would signal genuine commercial traction; so far the Hystar partnership stands alone in a market still waiting for its first commercially viable green hydrogen project to reach full operation.3