Saint-Gobain India and Sembcorp Green Infra’s subsidiary Green Infra Wind Energy have signed a long-term energy supply agreement under which Sembcorp will install a 33 MW captive wind-solar hybrid project to power Saint-Gobain’s manufacturing facilities in Sriperumbudur, Perundurai, and Tiruvallur in Tamil Nadu.

The wind-solar hybrid project is expected to be developed within a year.

The project will be developed through a special purpose vehicle (SPV) within a power purchase agreement for 25 years. Green Infra would hold a 74% stake in the SPV and  Saint-Gobain the rest.

Sembcorp’s renewable energy capacity stands at 5.7 GW, with wind and solar offerings in key markets such as India, Singapore, Vietnam, and China. With this tie-up, the Singapore-based company intends to strengthen its position as one of the leading renewable energy suppliers in India to reputable commercial and industrial (C&I) consumers through bilateral power purchase agreements.

Saint-Gobain, which has many solar plants in India, expects the agreement to help achieve its carbon neutrality target set for 2050. The company intends to source approximately 22 million units of electricity required through captive solar plants by the end of the year. By 2023, Saint-Gobain India expects to have 44% of its electricity consumption coming from renewables.

In February this year, Saint-Gobain India and IIT Madras signed a memorandum of understanding to develop a 100% renewable energy research park. The company was expected to support IIT Madras Research Park with funding of ₹10 million (~$129,089) over the next three years, to create a robust energy storage mechanism within the campus that would allow it to operate primarily on energy generated from renewable sources.

Sembcorp (Green Infra Wind Energy) had recently won the Railway Energy Management Company Limited’s auction to procure 50 MW of wind power. The tariff-based bidding was held for the power consumption of the Railways in Maharashtra.

With a  growing number of C&I entities moving towards renewable energy to power their operations, new solar open access capacity of 1.2 GW was added in India in 2021. The installations grew 222% year-over-year, according to Mercom India Research’s newly released report ‘Mercom India Solar Open Access Market Report Q4 & Annual 2021.’