Hindalco Industries, the metals flagship company of the Aditya Birla Group, 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.

Its renewable energy projects encompass solar, wind, hydroelectric, and biomass. The company aims to meet net zero by 2050.

Last September, Hindalco signed 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Hindalco Industries increased its renewable energy consumption to 2.12 million giga joules (GJ), compared to 0.91 million GJ in the previous year.

Some of the company’s renewable energy initiatives during the year were:

• 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.

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.

• 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.

Hindalco’s renewable energy initiatives are part of a trend of commercial and industrial (C&I) units in India adopting renewable energy to power its operations. Mercom India has been organizing C&I Clean Energy Meets to help C&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 scheduled to be held in Bhubaneswar on November 15, 2024.