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In the winter of 2020, as the world watched in disbelief, China raised the Huoshenshan and Leishenshan hospitals from the mud of Wuhan in just 10 days. But the real miracle wasn’t just the modular walls; it was the ‘energy in a box’ that powered them. While traditional grids take months to extend, China deployed Small-Scale LNG (SSLNG) units—containerized power plants that were trucked in and plugged in within hours.
As the National Capital Region (NCR) grapples with another winter of hazardous smog, the recent diplomatic offer from Beijing to share its ‘Blue Sky’ playbook underscores a fundamental failure: reliance on reactive bans (GRAP) over systemic, rapid infrastructure change. China’s deployment of SSLNG for rapid, clean power in 2020 offers a blueprint for Delhi’s urgent energy transition. This urgency for a new strategy was highlighted in late 2025 when the Chinese Embassy in India extended an olive branch of environmental diplomacy as Delhi’s AQI crossed the hazardous 400-mark. Beijing—once the world’s ‘smog capital’—offered to share its successful clean-air playbook, with Spokesperson Yu Jing noting that China, too, once struggled with severe smog but transformed its skyline through a decade-long ‘war on pollution.’ This ‘Blue Sky’ partnership suggests that for Delhi to breathe again, the path forward might not be found in emergency bans, but in the rapid, modular energy transitions that China pioneered without specifically signalling to one single window solution.
China’s approach to SSLNG became a primary weapon in its “Blue Sky War”, specifically targeting the heavy-duty transport and industrial sectors that are the largest contributors to urban smog. By 2024, China saw a massive surge in the adoption of LNG-powered heavy-duty trucks, with annual sales reaching approximately 178,200 units—a 17% increase from the previous year. This included satellite stations for Small-Scale storage and regasification units for areas without pipeline access, three fold increase in LNG truck fleet since 2019 with dedicated lanes in 300+ cities, policy incentives for vehicle conversion from diesel to LNG and lower fuel costs compared to diesel. This transition is particularly relevant for Delhi, where heavy vehicle traffic and decentralized industrial clusters significantly impact air quality. Every night, a ‘diesel tide’ of thousands of heavy-duty trucks enters Delhi, causing a midnight spike in PM2.5 particulate matter that lingers long into the next morning. China’s post-COVID recovery proved that heavy transport doesn’t have to be a pollutant. By scaling up SSLNG refueling points at Delhi’s entry corridors, the city can incentivize a rapid pivot to LNG-powered trucks. These vehicles offer the same long-haul range as diesel but with an 80% reduction in nitrogen oxides NO2 turning a logistics nightmare into a clean-air corridor.”
This “urgent need for rapid deployment’’ energy model is exactly what Delhi’s industrial fringes—like Narela, Bawana, and Mundka—desperately need. Currently, hundreds of small-scale units rely on ‘dirty’ fuels because the traditional gas pipeline infrastructure is years away. By deploying SSLNG ‘satellite stations’—essentially small, mobile tanks and regasification units—Delhi could bypass the pipeline wait entirely. These hubs act as clean energy micro-grids, providing the same high-capacity power used in Wuhan’s hospitals to replace the coal and furnace oil currently choking the NCR.”
Beyond Bans: Shifting from Reactive GRAP to Structural Change
Delhi often relies on the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP), which is reactive. China’s SSLNG model shows that a permanent shift in fuel infrastructure- even on a small, modular scale- creates a sustained reduction in baseline pollution levels. In Delhi, “truck-originating” pollution is a major hurdle. Even when the city implements the GRAP, thousands of diesel trucks enter or bypass the city nightly, emitting significant amounts of Particulate Matter PM 2.5 and Nitrogen Oxides NO2. China tackled this by focusing on SSLNG infrastructure. Unlike large pipelines that take years to build, SSLNG uses “virtual pipelines”- trucks carrying LNG to small, modular refueling stations. By 2024, China’s LNG truck fleet grew to be the largest in the world, largely because LNG was priced to be consistently cheaper than diesel, providing a clear economic “carrot” for fleet owners and set up 4800 thousands of small, pre-fabricated modular stations along key freight corridors, ensuring an LNG truck is never more than a few dozen kilometers from fuel. Moreover, they deployed truck-mounted LNG dispensers that could move to where the demand was.
The biggest hurdle for Delhi is that laying physical natural gas pipelines is slow, expensive, and legally complex. The “Virtual Pipeline” (SSLNG) flips this on its head:
- Bypassing the Grid: Instead of waiting for pipes to reach industrial pockets like Bawana or Narela, we truck the gas in cryogenic ISO containers.
- Modular Speed: A satellite regasification station can be set up in a matter of weeks. It takes up minimal space and can be scaled up by simply adding more storage tanks as demand grows.
- Decentralized Power: These hubs can serve both as refueling points for trucks and as clean energy sources for nearby micro-industries, cutting down on the soot-heavy fuels they currently use.
Delhi to clean its air, the government must treat LNG infrastructure like a Public Utility. In India, there is an ongoing LNG anxiety: with only about 29 to 50 operational LNG stations (concentrated on the Golden Quadrilateral), a driver might worry about being stranded on a long-haul trip to a remote industrial zone. This is a classic “chicken and egg” problem: transporters won’t buy trucks without stations, and companies won’t build stations without trucks. If the government guarantees a “Refueling Corridor” around the KMP (Kundli-Manesar-Palwal) Expressway—the bypass for all trucks entering Delhi—the anxiety disappears. Once the “Virtual Pipeline” trucks are constantly moving fuel to these hubs, the transition becomes a matter of logistics, not luck. A recent government move to allocate cheaper domestic gas (APM gas) specifically for 50,000 trucks is a game-changer.
Policy Incentives: The Regulatory Advantage for Clean Fleets
In the NCR, time is literally money. When GRAP Stage-IV hits (as it did in December 2025), most commercial traffic grinds to a halt. However, the latest guidelines from the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) provide a massive “hidden” subsidy for LNG:
- Unrestricted Entry: While BS-IV diesel trucks are now banned from entering Delhi (effective Nov 1, 2025), LNG, CNG, and Electric trucks enjoy a “Green Permit”—they are permitted to enter even during the most severe pollution alerts.
- 24/7 Logistics: For a logistics company, the ability to deliver goods when competitors are stuck at the border is worth millions in saved penalties and fulfilled contracts.
The government should formalize this into a Priority Lane system at toll plazas, further rewarding clean fleets with faster transit times.
Monetising the Transition: LNG’s Role in India’s Carbon Credit Scheme
India’s Carbon Credit Trading Scheme (CCTS), which became fully operational for voluntary offsets in 2025, offers a brand-new revenue stream for fleet owners.
- Earning Credits: Every tonne of CO2 (and the associated PM 2.5 saved by switching from diesel to LNG can be converted into Carbon Credit Certificates (CCCs).
- The Marketplace: Under the CCTS “baseline-and-credit” model, heavy industries like cement and steel that struggle to hit their emission targets will be forced to buy these credits.
- Monetization: For a fleet owner, this isn’t just about fuel savings; it’s about a quarterly “clean air dividend” that helps offset the higher upfront cost of the LNG truck.
We cannot afford to wait for every heavy truck in India to become electric. The infrastructure required for a fully electric long-haul fleet is decades away. Small-Scale LNG is the pragmatist’s weapon—a “bridge fuel” that exists here and now. If modular LNG could power a hospital in the heart of a pandemic, it can certainly power a clean-air recovery for Delhi. It is time for the NCR to stop managing the crisis and start building the infrastructure that makes the crisis obsolete.
Securing the Supply Chain: India’s Long-Term LNG Security
India is currently the fourth-largest LNG importer in the world. To achieve the government’s goal of increasing gas in the energy mix from ~6.7% to 15% by 2030, Indian PSUs (Public Sector Undertakings) have been on a “signing spree” to lock in long-term supplies. As of early 2026, India’s LNG strategy has shifted from “buying on the spot” to “strategic long-term security such as 20-year Qatar-Petronet deal securing 7.5-MMTPA and lower-carbon LNG deal with Adnoc from UAE. This gives the city of Delhi a predictable fuel price to work with for its clean energy transition. Similar approaches can be followed with countries like Australia and USA. Indian companies like ONGC Videsh (OVL) and GAIL are increasingly looking for equity stakes in the liquefaction plants themselves. This means instead of just buying the gas, India “owns” the gas at the source, shielding it from global price spikes. In December 2025, India’s Torrent Power signed a 10-year deal with Japan’s JERA. This is a smart partnership that leverages “complementary demand”: India needs more gas in the hot summer months, while Japan needs more in the cold winter.
India’s multi-billion dollar LNG deals with nations like Qatar and the UAE have secured long-term supply, but the gas’s current deployment often prioritizes large-scale fertilizer and distant power plants. Policy must now pivot to favor Small-Scale LNG (SSLNG) for heavy industry and trucking, which represent the decisive “last-mile” solution for the NCR. Rather than relying on slow, physical pipelines to connect international supply to NCR factories, the Virtual Pipeline model enables the gas to be directly loaded into cryogenic trucks at import terminals like Dahej or Kochi and transported straight to the National Capital Region.
The Final Mile Hurdle: Fiscal Reform for Widespread Adoption
While the gas is secured through international deals, the “last mile” in India faces a fiscal hurdle. To make the SSLNG model work, the government needs to treat clean air as an economic priority:
- The GST Hurdle: Currently, LNG sits outside the Goods and Services Tax (GST) net, meaning businesses cannot claim “input tax credits” on fuel. Bringing LNG under a uniform 5% GST would immediately slash operating costs for transporters, making the “Qatar-to-Delhi” supply chain much more competitive against diesel.
- Viability Gap Funding: The government could use a portion of the “Green Cess” to provide initial subsidies for Virtual Pipeline infrastructure—modular regasification units and “skid” stations—until the market reaches critical mass.
The “Blue Sky” Delhi Vision
If we bridge the gap between global supply and local infrastructure, the winter of 2030 could look fundamentally different. Imagine a Delhi where the “midnight spike” in pollution is a relic of the past.
Instead of a noisy, soot-belching “diesel tide,” the Kundli-Manesar-Palwal (KMP) Expressway becomes a Clean Energy Corridor. Heavy-duty trucks, powered by the blue flame of LNG, move silently and cleanly, having refueled at modular satellite stations powered by gas secured from Qatar and the UAE. This isn’t just a technological shift; it’s a restoration of the city’s right to breathe.
About the Author: Mohit Mittal is a chemical engineer based in Perth, working for an energy consultancy firm
These pieces are being published as they have been received – they have not been edited/fact-checked by ThePrint.