Hindalco, Greenko To Work Together To Develop 375-400 MW Solar And Wind Power Capacity

Hindalco Industries Limited, a subsidiary of Aditya Birla Group, and Greenko Energies Private Limited have entered into a commercial arrangement to set up a renewable energy (RE) project for supply of 100 MW round-the-clock carbon free power, the company said in a regulatory filing on Thursday (11 August).

The arrangement covers the development of 375-400 MW of solar and wind capacity. The RE project will be set up as a captive generation facility under a 25-year offtake arrangement and will supply power to Hindalco’s Aditya Aluminium smelter in Odisha, enabling reduction of CO2 emissions by 680,000 tonnes annually, the company said in a regulatory filing.

Further discussions between the parties to execute a power purchase agreement along with the other supplementary agreements is expected to be completed soon, the company said.

According to the company, Aluminium smelting requires reliable and continuous power and the project will be one of the world’s first for the aluminium sector with very high (over 85 per cent) reliability from solar and wind power without dependence on grid electricity.

Hindalco will also be the first aluminium company in India to use such RTC (round the clock) carbon free power for smelting, the company said.

Greenko will design, construct, partly own and operate the solar and wind facilities. Greenko will also make available appropriate storage capacity from its hydro pump storage project in Pinnapuram, Andhra Pradesh to ensure continuous power supply, it added.

Over the past few years, Hindalco has already invested in over 100 MW of solar and wind power, the company said.

The RE project adds 100 MW (RTC) of captive power and enhancement of the same to up to 350 MW of round-the-clock carbon-free energy will be explored in the future, it added.

The renewable energy initiative is aligned with Hindalco’s commitment to become net carbon neutral by 2050.

Commenting on the arrangement, Satish Pai, Managing Director, Hindalco, said, “The agreement with Greenko is a significant step towards reducing our carbon footprint and cementing our status as the world’s most sustainable aluminium company. We are guided by our long-term commitment of becoming net carbon-neutral by 2050 and we are happy to partner with Greenko in this audacious journey".

Anil Kumar Chalamalasetty, CEO and Managing Director at Greenko said “We are excited to be partnering with Hindalco to support its journey towards carbon neutrality. At Greenko, we firmly believe that clean energy sources backed with competitive and proven storage technologies like hydro pump storage project offers a competitive, reliable and sustainable alternative to consumers to support their decarbonisation journey. For instance, in this case, the RE project along with Greenko’s PSP will ensure firm and predictable supply even at individual time block level without any banking support from the grid, unprecedented for RE project globally, thereby committing very high reliability to Hindalco".