Tamil Nadu Industries Minister T R B Rajaa on Tuesday unveiled the design of the ₹180-crore Hyundai HTWO Innovation Centre – a dedicated hydrogen research hub set to come up at IIT Madras’ Discovery Campus.
This initiative is a result of a strategic collaboration between the Tamil Nadu government, Hyundai Motor India, and IIT Madras, formalised during the Tamil Nadu Global Investors Meet in January 2024.
The state-of-the-art R&D hub aims to serve as a catalyst for innovation in green hydrogen technology and its ecosystem. The centre is expected to be operational by 2026.
The design was unveiled at an event in Chennai by Minister Rajaa, in the presence of senior government officials and Hyundai Motor India MD Unsoo Kim.
“What the efforts of Hyundai Motor India and IIT Madras bring to my mind are the incredible capabilities of India, and we are here to celebrate exactly that. The possibilities that exist in this remarkable place are only now being recognised by the rest of the world,” Rajaa said at the event.
Emphasising Tamil Nadu’s role in national growth, he said the State is India’s auto, electronics, and tech capital, driven by its strong talent base and culture of embracing education. “That’s what IIT Madras represents-celebrating human capital and showing how people can be changemakers,” he added
According to Hyundai officials, ‘HTWO’ stands for ‘H2’ (the hydrogen molecule), while also symbolising ‘Hydrogen’ and ‘Humanity’ -the twin pillars of Hyundai’s fuel cell business.
Spanning 65,000 sq ft at IIT Madras’ Thaiyur campus, the centre will house cutting-edge computational and experimental laboratories.
The centre will focus on developing digital twins of hydrogen infrastructure, customised test rigs, and fabrication lines to enable pilot-scale evaluation of electrolysers and fuel cells. It will also feature test zones for containerised demonstrators of industrial-scale hydrogen solutions.
According to IIT Madras Director V. Kamakoti, the centre will collaborate with stakeholders from across the global hydrogen ecosystem, including academia, research laboratories, industry, and policymakers.
“This initiative will support India’s Atmanirbhar Bharat goals in the hydrogen sector and significantly contribute to sustainability and decarbonisation targets aimed at achieving Net Zero by 2070,” Kamakoti said.
Resource: The Economic Times
