IIT Madras unveils Hyundai HTWO Centre on campus, to be operational by 2026

Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM) revealed the final design for a new Hyundai HTWO Innovation Centre - a research hub for hydrogen to be built within the Discovery Satellite Campus at Thaiyur, Chennai. This initiative was done jointly with Hyundai Motor India Limited (HMIL) and Guidance Tamil Nadu, government of Tamil Nadu.

The centre at IITM will span an area of 65,000 square feet. It will have advanced computational and experimental laboratories, as per an official statement. “Hydrogen infrastructure along with customised test rigs and fabrication lines will contribute to the pilot-level evaluation of electrolyzers and fuel cells.”

The Hyundai HTWO Innovation Centre will also host test zones for “containerised pilot demonstrators for industrial-scale products”.

The HTWO investment from Hyundai is a part of its Rs 100 crore commitment towards green hydrogen innovation in India as part of its corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives.

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HTWO Centre at IITM

The IITM-Hyundai research centre aims to become a hub for “industrial-scale” hydrogen research. The centre will focus on localisation of the “hydrogen value chain” as well as pilot infrastructure development, through public-private partnership.

The hydrogen research centre is expected to support the Indian government’s vision of “Atmanirbhar and Viksit Bharat ” by 2047.

The IITM HTWO unveiling was attended by Chang-nyun Kim, Consulate General of the Republic of Korea in Chennai; Gopalakrishnan CS, whole-time director and chief manufacturing officer, HMIL; JW Ryu, function head, HMIL; Ashish Lele, director, CSIR National Chemical Laboratory, Pune; Ashwin Mahalingam, dean, IIT Madras; and project principal investigator Aravind Kumar Chandiran, associate professor, department of chemical engineering, IIT Madras.

“The possibilities that are here in this amazing place and the possibilities that the rest of the world is only now looking up. The Hyundai HTWO Innovation Centre is a crucial step towards indigenous hydrogen production,” said Thiru TRB Rajaa, Minister for Industries, Investment Promotion and Commerce, government of Tamil Nadu, while inaugurating the centre design.