ONGC wins bid to acquire PTC India's wind power unit for Rs 925 crore

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has won a bid to acquire PTC India Ltd's wind power unit for Rs 925 crore as the state-owned firm continues to build a renewable energy portfolio to balance its fossil fuel business.

In a stock exchange filing, India's top oil and gas producer said it has over the years diversified into the petrochemicals and power business besides growing its core business of finding hydrocarbons.

ONGC said it has taken various initiatives for renewable energy power generation and already has 189 megawatt (MW) capacity, including wind and solar PV plants spread across various locations.

"With a vision to expand its business in renewable energy, the company had participated in the bidding process for acquisition of 100 per cent equity stake of PTC Energy Limited (PEL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of PTC India Limited (PTC)," it said.

The PTC board last week approved ONGC's bid for the acquisition of a 100 per cent equity stake in PEL at an equity value of Rs 925 crore, it said.

The nod is subject to the approval of PTC shareholders.

PEL, incorporated on August 1, 2008, has a renewable energy portfolio of 288.8 MW consisting of 50 MW wind power projects in Madhya Pradesh, 50 MW wind power projects in Karnataka and 188.8 MW wind power projects in Andhra Pradesh.

The company has entered into long-term agreements with state distribution companies for an entire portfolio of 288.8 MW wind power projects.

PEL had a profit of Rs 13.88 crore on a revenue of Rs 296.77 crore during the 2022-23 fiscal year (April 2022 to March 2023).

PTC India, which is a leading power trading and financial services solutions provider, in a separate filing, said the "date of the extraordinary general meeting and date of signing of shareholder's agreement will be intimated as and when executed".

ONGC has previously announced an investment of about Rs 2 lakh crore to achieve zero carbon emissions by 2038. The firm will invest Rs 1 lakh crore by 2030 in setting up 10 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity, a green ammonia plant, and offshore wind energy projects. The remaining would flow thereafter to achieve Scope 1 and 2 net zero carbon emissions.

All this while, it continues to hunt and produce more oil and gas.

The company currently has 189 MW of capacity to generate electricity from renewable sources. It is targeting 10 GW by 2030. The firm already has signed an MoU for 5 GW in Rajasthan and is scouting for projects of similar size. Besides, it wants to set up 25 compressed biogas plants that will convert agri-residue into gas that can be used to run automobiles (CNG) or used in industries to generate electricity and fertiliser.

ONGC is also scouting for opportunities to set up a 1 million tonnes per annum green ammonia plant.

Scope 1 emissions are from directly emitting sources that are owned or controlled by a company. Scope 2 emissions are from the consumption of purchased electricity, steam, or other sources of energy generated upstream from a company's direct operations.

ONGC produced 19.584 million tonnes (MT) of oil in 2022-23, up from 19.545 MT in the previous year. The output is likely to rise to 20.232 MT in the current fiscal (April 2023 to March 2024) and to 21.265 MT in 2024-25.

Natural gas output is slated to rise from 20.636 billion cubic metres (bcm) in 2022-23 to 20.882 bcm in 2023-24, 22.171 bcm in the following year and 23.708 bcm in 2025-26.