Vedanta Aluminium Becomes India’s Largest Industrial Consumer of Renewable Energy

Vedanta Aluminium Business, India’s largest producer of aluminium and value-added products, has become the country’s largest industrial consumer of renewable energy (RE) in 2021, leading renewable energy procurement on India’s power exchanges – Indian Energy Exchange (IEX) and Power Exchange India Limited (PXIL). In the year 2021, the company procured approximately 2 billion units of RE power for consumption at its Aluminium Smelter in Jharsuguda, Odisha, reducing GHG emissions intensity at the smelter by more than 1540 KtCO2e (kilo tonnes of CO2 equivalent). On the IEX’s Green Term Ahead Market (G-TAM) platform, Vedanta Aluminium’s Jharsuguda unit is India’s largest renewable energy buyer.

Bharat Aluminium Company (BALCO), a subsidiary of Vedanta, has led the renewable energy trading session, procuring 59 percent of the traded RE certificates (RECs) in November 2021 alone, and a total of over 2,861,700 RECs for the year.

On Vedanta Aluminium’s ESG vision, Rahul Sharma, CEO, Aluminium Business, Vedanta Limited, commented, “We are committed to our vision of achieving Net Zero Carbon by 2050. To that end, we have stepped up our endeavors 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 endeavors to increase the share of green power in our energy mix and accelerate our transition into low-carbon operations.”

To this, Rohit Bajaj, Senior Vice President and Head, Business Development, IEX, added, “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 endeavor towards building India’s sustainable tomorrow.”

Against this backdrop, Prabhajit Kumar Sarkar, MD & CEO, Power Exchange India Ltd (PXIL), said, “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.”

Image Source: Vedanta Aluminium Business