June Field Notes: Conversations That Shaped HyGOAT

June 2025 was a blur of train rides, ministry hallways, and late-night debriefs. I spent the first ten days in NCR meeting stakeholders across the value chain, then closed the month with a deep dive into Europe's RFNBO rules. Here is what stood out -- and how it shapes HyGOAT's roadmap.

Ten Days in NCR

• NTPC Renewable Energy. We unpacked how green hydrogen projects are shaping up, the role of green ammonia as a transport medium, and the large knowledge gap around e-SAF certification (CORSIA). HyGOAT's compliance tooling clearly has a job to do here.
• Policy veterans. Conversations with Amit Kumar surfaced the simple but brutal prerequisites for hydrogen production even with PLI support: water, land, and dependable renewable energy.
• Fellow founders. Over coffee with the founder of H2 Carbon Zero we swapped notes from the Netherlands and Sweden. His reminder was sharp -- Indian consumers will not pay a premium yet, so domestic producers chase exports while wrestling with fragmented certification regimes (EU RFNBO, Japan JCM, Korea CHPS).
• Carbon market operators. NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam's carbon team underscored how Article 6 readiness and Verra/CDM methodologies already shape Power-to-X accounting.

Inside MNRE and NISE

• Regulator perspective. I demonstrated HyGOAT at Akshay Urja Bhawan and discussed the Green Hydrogen Certification Scheme and portal roadmap.
• NISE collaboration. With deputy directors at the National Institute of Solar Energy we dissected lessons from India's first hydrogen refuelling station and explored incubation pathways for future pilots.
• Peer learning. Catching up with Adarsh Singh reinforced the urgency of digital MRV platforms to close the guarantee-of-origin loop.

What Producers Told Me

The single biggest pain point is still the price delta between production and sale. Until India's Carbon Credit Trading Scheme matures, export markets look more attractive -- provided certification does not double-count incentives.

The EU RFNBO Reality Check

In the final week of July I joined the Indo-German Chamber of Commerce webinar on bridging GHCI to RFNBO standards.

• Simon Byrtus explained why producers may have to choose between domestic subsidies and export access to avoid double counting.
• Matthieu Boisson walked through how CertifHy will operationalise RED III requirements.
• Flore de Durfort detailed how Atmen automates compliance workflows, backed by a recent EUR 5 million seed round.

I asked how Atmen prevents tampering at source; the answer -- data robustification, anomaly checks, and an append-only ledger secured with Schneider Electric -- is a blueprint for the safeguards we are building into HyGOAT.

Reading That Stayed With Me

Corin Taylor's analysis of EU regulation pointed out how RFNBO rules were drafted before the energy crisis and may not align with today's scaling realities. Markets evolve faster than policy; founders have to design for flux.

Closing the Month

Each conversation reinforced why HyGOAT exists: India needs credible MRV, interoperable certification, and a transparent supply-chain ledger. If you have made it this far, let's compare notes -- what did your June look like?

Ekansh Sharma