Aditya Birla Group’s aluminum and copper flagship Hindalco Industries has inked a commercial agreement with Greenko Energies, a subsidiary of the Greenko Group, to deploy a captive renewable energy project for the supply of 100 MW round-the-clock (RTC) carbon-free power to Hindalco’s Aditya Aluminum Smelter in Odisha.

The offtake arrangement will be for 25 years.

The two companies will collaborate to develop 375-400 MW of solar and wind power capacity, ultimately aiming mitigation of around 680,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually.

Greenko will design, construct, partly own and operate the solar and wind facilities while extending appropriate storage capacity from its hydro pump storage project in Pinnapuram, Andhra Pradesh, to ensure continuous power supply to Hindalco’s smelter in Odisha.

The project is claimed to be among the first in the global aluminum sector, with operations relying on 85% solar and wind power. Hindalco is the first Indian aluminum company to implement such a carbon-free power supply arrangement round-the-clock for smelting.

Aluminum smelting is a concentrated process that requires reliable and uninterrupted power. A round-the-clock power supply will help Hindalco run its smelter without any dependence on grid electricity.

Hindalco’s Managing Director Satish Pai said, “We have made climate action integral to our business, and our expansion plans have been shaped by our ESG (environment, social, and governance) focus. The agreement with Greenko is a significant step toward reducing our carbon footprint and cementing our status as the world’s most sustainable aluminum company. We are guided by our long-term commitment to becoming net carbon-neutral by 2050.”

The two companies will soon sign a power purchase agreement and other supplementary agreements.

Greenko’s CEO and Managing Director Anil Kumar Chalamalasetty said, “At Greenko, we firmly believe that clean energy sources backed with competitive and proven storage technologies like hydro pump storage project offer a competitive, reliable, and sustainable alternative to consumers to support their decarbonization 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 projects globally, thereby committing very high reliability to Hindalco.”

Last month, Hindalco inked a memorandum of understanding with Phinergy, an Israeli metal-air battery technology firm, and IOC Phinergy, for pilot production of aluminum plates to be used in the aluminum-air batteries.

Greenko Group said it had commenced the construction of its 5.23 GW integrated renewable energy storage project in Andhra Pradesh’s Kurnool district with an investment of over $3 billion.