By Business India Editorial

In a first-of-its-kind initiative, two national energy majors have entered into an agreement to help the country meet its renewable energy targets and cut greenhouse gas emissions.

NTPC Ltd. and Indian Oil have recently signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate in the field of renewable energy and to explore opportunities for the supply of low carbon/RE RTC captive power.

Indian Oil will be pushing its green energy portfolio by meeting 85 per cent of its energy needs in its new projects from renewables.

Shrikant Madhav Vaidya, Chairman, Indian Oil, said: “As a global energy major, environmental priority is being weaved into every business aspect of Indian Oil and now we intend to use green energy to power new projects and refinery expansions.”

Indian Oil is also well poised to leverage India’s sustainable commitments through multiple green initiatives, including increased use of natural gas in all refineries, ethanol-blended Motor Spirit, sale of Compressed Biogas (CBG) and production of biodiesel using cooking oil as feedstock, states the company.

NTPC and Indian Oil have come together for the generation and storage of renewable energy or other forms of energy, including gas-based power, primarily to cater for Indian Oil refineries or other installations.

Gurdeep Singh, CMD, NTPC, said: “NTPC is taking various steps to make its energy portfolio greener by adding significant capacity of renewable energy sources so that our non-fossil fuel-based capacity will become equal or greater than our thermal portfolio by 2032. Through this MoU, the strengths of both the organisations can be leveraged to achieve the aim of the country to meet its net-zero commitments.”

The present installed capacity of NTPC, India’s largest integrated energy company, is 67,657.5 MW (including 13,425 MW through JVs/subsidiaries), which comprises 47 NTPC stations (23 coal-based stations, 7 gas-based stations, 1 hydro station, 1 small hydro, 14 solar PV and 1 wind-based station) and 26 joint venture stations (9 coal based, 4 gas based, 8 hydro, 1 small hydro 2 wind and 2 solar PV).

State-run NTPC has plans to list its arm NTPC Renewable Energy Ltd in 2022-23, to raise funds for achieving its ambitious target of 60 GW installed renewable energy capacity by 2032, which entails a total investment of Rs2.5 lakh crore. The company has won 4.32 GW of renewable energy bids since the last financial year.

Another state owned energy major, NHPC, has got board approval for a proposal to form a joint venture with Green Energy Development Corporation of Odisha for the implementation of a 500 MW floating Solar Power Project in various water reservoirs in Odisha.