Rising environmental concerns are increasingly swaying government energy policies across the globe, prompting energy companies to invest in greener options.
Keeping in line with this, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), the nation’s largest refiner and fossil fuel retailer, plans to invest Rs 25,000 crore in green energy projects, including solar and wind power plants, bio-fuels plants, and solar panels at filling stations.
Over the next 5-7 years, Indian Oil aims to invest Rs 2 lakh crore in aggressively leveraging its R&D expertise to move into horizon technologies like 2G & 3G (second and third generation) ethanol, biofuels, coal gasification, hydrogen-CNG, hydrogen fuel cells, battery technologies, etc.
Indian Oil plans to scale up its solar and wind power portfolio to 260 MW by 2020 from 216 MW now, which includes 167 MW of wind and 49 MW of solar.
An interesting transition is visible at more than half the company’s filling stations where solar panels are helping cut dependence on grid power.
Pumps have experienced increased sales after solar installation in areas that suffered from unreliable grid supply.
Of the total 27,800 fuel stations, 14,173 are solar-operated with a combined installed capacity of 77 MW. In 2018-19, 5,000 stations were converted to operate on solar.
It also plans to invest in setting up 2G ethanol plants and a pilot facility for 3G ethanol plant, and integration of refinery processes with biofuel production.
This is an Agency News-Feed