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					</table><p><a href="https://www.hindalco.com/about-us" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Hindalco Industries</a>, the metals flagship company of the <a href="https://www.adityabirla.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Aditya Birla Group</a>, is increasingly using renewable energy to power its operations. Its installed renewable energy capacity saw a 60% jump in the financial year FY (2023‑24) from the previous year’s 108 MW to 173 MW.</p>
<p>Its renewable energy projects encompass solar, wind, hydroelectric, and biomass. The company aims to meet net zero by 2050.</p>
<p>Last September, Hindalco <a href="https://www.mercomindia.com/ayana-supply-100-mw-rtc-renewable-hindalco-odisha" target="_blank" rel="noopener">signed</a> a power purchase agreement with Ayana Renewable Power to invest in Ayana Renewable Power Four, a special-purpose vehicle to set up a 153 MW solar project and a 53 MW wind project, which will cater to the power requirement of one of its smelters in Odisha.</p>
<p>During the year, a contract was executed to supply 100 MW renewable RTC power to Aditya Smelter based on a solar-wind hybrid with a pumped hydro storage-based project.</p>
<p>In FY 24, the company purchased 821,470 renewable energy certificates to meet its obligation to transition from conventional energy sources and deploy renewable energy.</p>
<p>Hindalco has been using clean energy in primary smelting of aluminum, an energy-intensive process. The company claims to among the first in the global aluminum industry to utilize 100 MW of round-the-clock solar and wind power with storage.</p>
<p>The company aims to increase its capacity for renewable energy to at least 30% by 2030 and ensure that any new smelter expansions are driven by renewable energy.</p>
<p>The company is focusing on achieving 29 MW of solar and wind energy to be operational by the second quarter of FY 2025, 100 MW of renewable energy for its Odisha smelter in the coming year, and its target of 300 MW by FY 2026.</p>
<p>Hindalco Industries increased its renewable energy consumption to 2.12 million giga joules (GJ), compared to 0.91 million GJ in the previous year.</p>
<p>Some of the company’s renewable energy initiatives during the year were:</p>
<ul>
<li>The commissioning of an additional 2 MW over the existing 3 MW captive solar plant at Alupuram, a 21 MW wind power plant for Belagavi, and a 41 MW renewable hybrid project (21 MW wind and 20 MW solar) at Dahej.</li>
</ul>
<p>Plans are on for a 9 MW solar project at Belagavi, 10 MW solar project at Taloja, and 6.5 MW floating solar project at Mahan for future expansion projects.</p>
<ul>
<li>Two battery storage projects along with a solar plant were commissioned at Garepalma coal mines and 350 kWh BESS along with a 390 kW solar project at Bagru bauxite mines, translating to annual savings of ₹8.2 million (~$97,987) during the year.</li>
</ul>
<p>Hindalco’s renewable energy initiatives are part of a trend of commercial and industrial (C&amp;I) units in India adopting renewable energy to power its operations. Mercom India has been organizing C&amp;I Clean Energy Meets to help C&amp;I units connect with clean energy developers, financiers and policy experts to take informed decisions on transitioning to renewable energy. The next event in the series is <a href="https://www.mercomindia.com/event" target="_blank" rel="noopener">scheduled</a> to be held in Bhubaneswar on November 15, 2024.</p>


Hindalco’s Renewable Energy Capacity Up 60% in FY 2023-24


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					</table><p><a href="https://www.ultratechcement.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">UltraTech Cement</a>, an <a href="https://www.adityabirla.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Aditya Birla Group</a> company, has said it will procure an additional 7 MW of wind-solar hybrid power from Continuum MP Windfarm, raising the total procurement from 14 MW to 21 MW.</p>
<p>To enable the additional power procurement, UltraTech Cement said it has increased its shareholding from 3.28% to 5.46% in Continuum MP Windfarm by investing  ₹243.5 million (~$2.91 million).</p>
<p>In a regulatory filing, Ultratech said acquiring additional shares in the wind company will help it meet its green energy needs, optimize energy costs, and comply with regulatory requirements for captive power consumption under electricity laws.</p>
<p>The acquisition is expected to be completed within 120 days of the amendments to the Power Purchase Agreement, Share Purchase Agreement, and Shareholders Agreement.</p>
<p>Continuum MP Windfarm supplies 21 MW hybrid power from its 100 MW wind-solar hybrid project set up in Ratlam District in Madhya Pradesh under the group captive mode. The company had a turnover of ₹246.41 million (~$2.91 million) in the financial year 2023-24.</p>
<p>In 2022, the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity <a href="https://www.mercomindia.com/aptel-cancels-additional-surcharge-captive-power-consumers" target="_blank" rel="noopener">dismissed</a> the Madhya Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission’s order upholding the state-owned distribution company’s move to levy an additional surcharge on wheeling charges even for consumers using captive generation and their dedicated transmission lines in response to petitions filed by subsidiaries of Ultratech Cement. The Tribunal said there was no evidence that UltraTech Cement subsidiaries were using the distribution licensee&#8217;s transmission system to evacuate power from the captive power projects.</p>
<p>Aditya Birla Renewables (<a href="https://www.adityabirlarenewables.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ABReL</a>), the Aditya Birla Group’s renewable energy arm, recently <a href="https://www.mercomindia.com/aditya-birla-renewables-raises-%E2%82%B925-billion-via-debenture-sale" target="_blank" rel="noopener">raised</a> ₹25 billion (~$299.26 million) through a private placement of non-convertible debentures. The base issue size is up to ₹20 billion (~$239.4 million), with a greenshoe option to retain oversubscription of up to ₹5 billion (~$59.85 million).</p>
<p>In March, <a href="https://www.grasim.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Grasim Industries</a>, another Aditya Birla Group company, <a href="https://www.mercomindia.com/grasim-secures-ifc-for-decarbonization-initiatives" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> an investment of ₹12.5 billion (~$150.3 million) from the International Finance Corporation (<a href="https://www.ifc.org/en/home" target="_blank" rel="noopener">IFC</a>), the private sector arm of the World Bank Group.</p>


UltraTech Cement to Procure 7 MW More Power from Continuum MP Windfarm

<p>In a move that highlights the growing importance of solar power, Aditya Aluminium, which is a unit of the <a href="https://www.adityabirla.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Aditya Birla Group</a>, has set up a 24 MW solar power project at Lapanga in Sambalpur district.</p>
<p>This comes as a part of Odisha government’s ambition of installing renewable energy capacity of 2,750 MW, out of which 2,200 MW will be from solar energy.</p>
<p>The project was inaugurated by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and is spread across 144 acres of land with an investment of ₹1.51 billion (~$21.2 million). The power produced will be used by Aditya Aluminium in the aluminium smelting process.</p>
<p>As per the company statement, the high-capacity captive power projects in the state have to comply with the Odisha Renewable Policy, 2016 and are required to meet the solar purchase obligation (SPO) as specified by the <a href="http://www.orierc.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Odisha State Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC). </a></p>
<p>Speaking about the downside of solar power, the unit head of Aditya Aluminium, Kailash Pandey said, “Smelters require a consistent load network and uninterrupted power supply. For Aditya Aluminium, this load requirement sums up to nearly 658 MW which is huge. However, power fluctuations are very common in solar projects as power generation depends on daylight. Cloudy weather, rains may also cause huge power swings.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;Controlling turbo generators during the power swing is an upheaval task in terms of boiler stability, electricity import and export as we are connected to the grid,&#8221; he added.</p>
<p>He further noted that the fluctuation in power generation is taken care of by the intelligent load shedding system that is called Composite Islanding and Land Management System (CILMS).</p>
<p>Earlier this year, <a href="http://vedantaaluminium.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Vedanta Limited</a>,  a diversified natural resources company, had also invited  Expression of Interest for the <a href="https://mercomindia.com/vedanta-eoi-odisha-solar/">procurement of solar power</a> under a short or medium-term basis from solar power generators, state electricity boards, and utilities, independent power producers and traders. The delivery point for the generated power will be Vedanta Limited’s premises in Odisha’s Jharsuguda. The minimum bid capacity is 20 MW and the maximum has been fixed at 300 MW.</p>
<p>According to Mercom’s <a href="https://mercomindia.com/product/india-solar-project-tracker/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>India Solar Project Tracker</em></a><em>,</em> Odisha is one of the least developed states in India in terms of solar capacity. The state has 83 MW of solar projects under development and 362 MW of solar capacity is presently installed.</p>
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Aditya Birla Group Sets up a 24 MW Solar Power Project in Odisha

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