ITC pledges to meet 100% grid electricity needs from renewables by 2030

Firm has been expanding its renewable footprint over past two decades, meets 40% of its electricity needs from wind, solar and biomass; Its investment in renewable assets is about Rs 1,000 cr

Diversified conglomerate, ITC Limited, has set a target of meeting 100 per cent purchased grid electricity requirements from renewable sources by 2030.

ITC, which has been expanding its renewable footprint over the past two decades, meets over 40 per cent of its electrical energy requirement from renewable sources like wind, solar and biomass. The investment in its renewable energy assets is about Rs 1,000 crore so far.

While the company has set a target of achieving 100 per cent of electricity requirements from renewable sources by 2030, the overall target is to source 50 per cent of its energy requirements from renewable within the timeline.

Companies across the globe are increasingly committing to transition to renewable energy and setting goals is the first step towards achieving it.

As a part of its Sustainability 2.0 Vision, ITC is planning to invest further in strengthening its renewable energy portfolio in order to contribute meaningfully to the fight against climate change, the company said on Wednesday. The investment in future projects is, however, not known.

ITC is currently executing offsite solar projects totalling 50 megawatt (MW) in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Haryana and Tamil Nadu to expand its renewable energy footprint. It is also pursuing an offsite solar project in West Bengal to meet the electricity needs of ITC’s establishments within the state; onsite solar projects in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu are also being executed.

 

Further, the company’s integrated consumer goods manufacturing and logistics (ICML) facilities and rooftops of factories and warehouses are being used for solar power generation.

Commenting on ITC’s initiatives in mitigating climate change risks, Sanjiv Rangrass, group head –R&D, sustainability and projects, ITC Limited said, “Since making sustainability a core objective in all business operations two decades ago, we have worked on a low carbon growth plan, in which expanding our renewable energy portfolio is our top priority. To pursue continuous improvement in energy and emission related performance, we have taken up specific energy and greenhouse gas emission reduction targets.”

ITC has set a target of achieving a 50 per cent reduction in specific emission and 30 per cent reduction in specific energy consumption by 2030 over a 2014-15 baseline.

The current renewables portfolio of ITC consists of 138 MW of wind power plants and 14 MW of solar plants with 53MW of additional solar capacity under execution.

ITC uses renewable energy across 20 factories, nine hotels and six office buildings spanning states such as Telengana, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Bihar, Haryana, West Bengal and Punjab.