Tata Power Company Ltd, after the resounding success of the first phase of its green campaign launched in 2009, has decided to take the green message forward.
It has set an ambitious target of cutting its carbon footprint by half within the next 15 years and plans to turn carbon-neutral by 2050.
The company that has been named the fourth fastest growing energy company in Asia in the Platts Top 250 Global Energy Company rankings plans to integrate its green initiative with growth.
S Padmanabhan, executive director (operations), Tata Power, said, “Effective management of natural resources is the need of the hour and Tata Power is conscious of its role in addressing the growing challenges of climate change and its after-effects. Our green energy initiatives in Mumbai reflect the company’s sustainable roadmap, which has been designed in conjunction with our growth plans.”
In its phase-I green initiative, it piloted 2.82 kW solar-hybrid wind turbine at Mankhurd substation, in a suburb of Mumbai. The firm has held that these options can not only provide energy in remote rural areas in a sustainable way, but in urban and semi-urban areas as well.
Prasad Menon, managing director, Tata Power, said, “We are progressing as planned on the path of renewable energy and today, around 20 per cent of the power generated is from ‘clean’ sources, which we will increase to 25 per cent in three to four years.”
Tata Power currently has 200 MW of wind power generation capacity, spread across three states, Maharashtra (100 MW), Gujarat (50 MW) and Karnataka (50 MW). The company proposes to add 150 to 200 MW of wind power capacity every year.
With reference to the generation of solar energy, the company has plans to install solar capacity in Gujarat to meet its target of having 20 to 25 per cent of total capacity from “zero-carbon power” by 2017. The company had set up its first solar power plant of 100 kW way back in 1996 in Lonavla.
Banmali Agrawala, executive director, strategy and business development, Tata Power, said, “We want to ensure that at least 8,000 MW to 10,000 MW of our generation will be from low-carbon or zero-emission technologies like hydro, solar, wind or from hot gases. Today 20 per cent of our power comes from clean technologies. This may go down in the near term, but we aim to have at least one-fourth of our power through such sources.”
