IEW 2025: GAIL, Cummins ink MoU for clean energy collaboration

New Delhi: GAIL (India) Limited, a Maharatna Central Public Sector Enterprise (CPSE) under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG) and India’s leading natural gas company, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Accelera™ by Cummins, the zero-emissions business segment of Cummins Inc., to collaborate on sustainable energy and energy transition technologies in India. The MoU was signed on February 12, at the ongoing India Energy Week 2025.

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The partnership aims to leverage Accelera's expertise in new energy solutions and GAIL's extensive natural gas infrastructure to explore opportunities in hydrogen production, blending, transportation, and storage. This collaboration is in line with GAIL’s commitment to achieving Scope 1 and Scope 2 “Net Zero” targets, which the company has advanced from 2040 to 2035.

Cummins Inc., a global leader in power solutions, is known for its commitment to sustainability and its diverse portfolio of products, including advanced diesel, natural gas, electric, and hybrid powertrains, electric power generation systems, batteries, electrified power systems, hydrogen production technologies, and fuel cell products.

GAIL has been at the forefront of promoting clean energy initiatives in India. In April 2024, the company commissioned a 10 MW Green Hydrogen unit at its plant in Vijaipur, Guna District, Madhya Pradesh, equipped with an electrolyser manufactured by Accelera by Cummins. Additionally, GAIL, through its joint venture Avantika, conducted pilot-scale studies in Indore's City Gas Distribution (CGD) network by blending 2 percent hydrogen in Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) and Piped Natural Gas (PNG), later scaling up to 5 percent in the PNG network.

As part of its energy transition strategy, GAIL has already established a 5 TPD Compressed Biogas (CBG) plant in Ranchi and plans to set up 26 more plants across India over the next three to four years. The company is also collaborating with Leafiniti Bioenergy through a joint venture to set up 10 CBG plants. In addition, GAIL has formed a joint venture to establish a 500 KLPD grain-based ethanol plant in Rajasthan and signed a joint venture agreement with Coal India for producing Synthetic Natural Gas in West Bengal.

The MoU with Accelera by Cummins will enable GAIL to explore opportunities in various sectors, including the application and adoption of hydrogen as a mono-fuel or dual-feed (such as LNG/Hydrogen/CNG blends) in transport, power, steel, and other industries. The collaboration will also focus on the blending of hydrogen in natural gas pipelines, as well as the infrastructure development, production, transportation, and storage of hydrogen.

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