The Business Bytes
TBB BUREAU
NEW DELHI, JANUARY 13, 2022
Vedanta Aluminium Business, India’s largest producer of aluminium and value-added products, has become the biggest industrial consumer of renewable energy (RE) in 2021, leading renewable energy procurement on the country’s power exchanges – Indian Energy Exchange (IEX) and Power Exchange India Limited (PXIL).
The company has procured about 2 billion units of RE power in the year 2021 for consumption at its Aluminium Smelter at Jharsuguda in Odisha, thereby reducing GHG emissions intensity at the smelter by more than 1540 KtCO2e (kilo tonnes of CO2 equivalent) in the year. Vedanta Aluminium’s Jharsuguda unit is India’s largest renewable energy buyer on Green Term Ahead Market (G-TAM) platform at IEX.
Vedanta’s subsidiary Bharat Aluminium Company (BALCO) has led the renewable energy trading session, procuring 59 per cent of the traded RE certificates (RECs) in November 2021 alone, and a total of over 2,861,700 RECs in the year.
Speaking about Vedanta Aluminium’s ESG vision, Rahul Sharma, CEO – Aluminium Business, Vedanta Limited, said: “We are committed to our vision of achieving Net Zero Carbon by 2050. To that end, we have stepped up our endeavours along key three pillars – continuously improving energy efficiency of operations, increasing the quantum of renewable energy in our energy mix, and replacing fossil fuels with greener and cleaner alternatives – all powered by emerging green technologies. Becoming India’s largest industrial consumer of RE in 2021 reflects our persistent endeavours to increase the share of green power in our energy mix and accelerate our transition into low-carbon operations.”
Rohit Bajaj, Senior Vice President and Head – Business Development, IEX, said: “Indian Energy Exchange’s (IEX) Green Market comprising the Day-ahead collective auction market as well as the Term-Ahead Contracts leverages innovation and technology to offer market participants an opportunity to trade in solar and non-solar renewable energy at the most competitive prices, and in a flexible manner. As the leading industry participant in the Green Market, Vedanta Aluminium Business has indeed set a very strong precedence for the Indian manufacturing industry to step up green energy consumption towards reducing their carbon footprint. We greatly appreciate Vedanta Aluminium’s focused endeavour towards building India’s sustainable tomorrow.”
“We congratulate BALCO for being the leading buyer in the November 2021 REC trading session. Focused RE adoption strategy by industry leaders such as Vedanta Aluminium shall inspire the industry at large to accelerate the pace of energy transition. Power Exchange India Ltd. (PXIL) is helping industries achieve their ESG goals through integration of renewables in the power markets. India Inc’s commitment to ESG and transactional efficiency through power markets will play a critical role in shaping India’s energy future,” said Prabhajit Kumar Sarkar, MD & CEO – Power Exchange India Ltd. (PXIL).
Vedanta Aluminium Business, a division of Vedanta Limited, is India’s largest manufacturer of aluminium, producing half of India’s aluminium i.e., 1.97 million tonnes in FY21. It is a leader in value-added aluminium products that find critical applications in core industries. With its world-class Aluminium Smelters, Alumina Refinery and Power Plants in India, the company fulfils its mission of spurring emerging applications of aluminium as the ‘Metal of the Future’ for a greener tomorrow.
