Vedanta to source 580 MW green energy for India operations

Mining giant Vedanta Limited on Thursday said its board has approved a proposal to source 580 MW of green energy for its operations across India.

The company said a power delivery agreement has been signed with the Sterlite Power Technologies Private Ltd, a special purpose vehicle for supply of solar and wind-based energy.

"The board has approved plans for the group to source 580 MW of renewable energy for its operations across India. The company has signed a PDA (Power Delivery Agreement) with Sterlite Power Technologies Pvt Ltd," Vedanta said in a regulatory filing.

The miner said it aims to partially replace its existing captive thermal power capacities with renewable energy for smelting and associated operations, and meet power requirements of capacity expansion at Vedanta Aluminium Limited, Balco in Odisha and Hindustan Zinc in Rajasthan.

The overall arrangement is to procure 580 MW of renewable power from the plant where Sterlite Power Technologies Private Ltd (SPTPL) and its affiliates are setting up a 1,960 MW hybrid-based renewable energy capacity. Once the power supply begins, it has the potential to prevent about 2.7 million tonnes of green house gas emissions from entering the atmosphere, it said.

"These projects will be built on group captive model and Build-Own-Operate (BOO) basis. The term of the power delivery agreement will be for a period of 25 years from the date of commissioning of the project," Vedanta said.

The project will be funded on the basis of 70:30 ratio of debt to equity, it said, adding that Vedanta Ltd and its subsidiaries will own 26 per cent of equity in the respective SPVs at a total investment of up to Rs 850 crore.

"This agreement is an important milestone in our journey towards becoming the ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) leader in the natural resources sector. The project is poised to become one of the largest renewable energy hybrid projects in India. It demonstrates the group's commitment to become one of the greenest natural resources companies in the world," Vedanta's Chief Safety Officer and Group CEO Sunil Duggal said.