ITC commissions first off-site solar plant in TN

Diversified business conglomerate ITC Limited has commissioned its first off-site solar plant in Tamil Nadu set up at an investment of Rs 76 crore, the company said on Tuesday.

The 14.9 MW solar plant in Dindigul about 450 km from here, would help reduce the carbon dioxide emissions over the course of the time and it has already helped ITC to achieve the feat of meeting 90 per cent of its electricity requirement, a company statement said, here.

The project, in line with ITC Chairman Sanjiv Puri's 'Sustainability 2.0' Vision, under which ITC plans to meet 100 per cent of the entire grid electricity requirements from renewable sources by 2030 and contribute to combat the threat of climate change.

ITC's renewable portfolio comprises of 138 MW of wind power plants and 14 MW of solar plants with 53 MW of additional solar capacity under execution.

Currently, projects were underway in other sources of renewable energy like biomass boilers. The company has made investments of over Rs 1,000 crore in renewable energy assets to date.

''At ITC, we have relentlessly pursued a mission for environmental stewardship through a gamut of large scale endeavours that comprehensively address the threat of climate change,'' Group Head, ITC Life Sciences and Technology, Central Projects, Sanjiv Rangrass said.

''Our large scale investments in renewable energy assets are an integral part of our low carbon strategy aimed at making a meaningful contribution to a net zero economy,'' he said.

The solar plant spread across 59 acre, has been built with latest technology and complies with all national and international standards on design and safety. ''The unit would generate over 22 million units of renewable energy annually for ITC's hotels, food manufacturing plants, paper manufacturing unit, printing and packaging factories in Tamil Nadu.'' According to the company, its renewable energy portfolio powers 20 factories, nine hotels, six office buildings of ITC in Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Bihar, Haryana, West Bengal and Punjab.

The company's 46 MW wind power plant in Andhra Pradesh serves to over 15 ITC establishments in eight states.

As part of Sustainability 2.0 agenda, ITC Ltd aims to achieve a 50 per cent reduction in specific emissions and a 30 per cent reduction in specific energy consumption by 2030 over a 2014-15 baseline.

Such efforts in de-carbonising energy consumption through low-carbon energy solutions would be met through large-scale digitalization, research and development initiatives, cross-sectoral collaborations, and partnerships, the statement added.