Primary Aluminium News - General

India to walk the path of clean energy generation- what it means for the aluminium sector?

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Indian aluminium consumption is poised for a big leap in ten years from now. Predicted to reach 8 million tonne (MT) from the current 3.2 MT, driven by sectors like electricity, automobiles, building & construction and packaging, it requires a concerted effort from the industry towards meeting cost and environmental challenges- the bigger challenge being optimization of the use of energy from various sources while ensuring lower greenhouse gas emission for the sake of sustainability.

Indian aluminium producers till date have relied largely on thermal power for their smelting operations. The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) in its recently published report says current installed capacity of power generation and the capacity under construction would be able to meet the country’s power demand till about 2026 and till that time no new investments are likely to be made in coal-based power generation. Moreover, beyond 2023-24, any new investment for power generation capacity would be only for renewable energy. So, to remain operational after that time aluminium makers would have to make a steady shift to alternative energy sources other than thermal.

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Piyush Goyal, minister for power, coal, new and renewable energy and mines, who released the report titled, ‘Transitions in the Indian Energy Sector - Macro Level Analysis of Demand and Supply Side Options’ at a conference organised by TERI in New Delhi, said, "We see India becoming the energy capital of the world. We are looking at several initiatives towards making solar energy price competitive to coal.”

Meanwhile, the government is also working to make coal a cleaner fuel by replacing old plants with newer ones. Goyal said without a base load of coal-based capacity, it would be difficult to add anymore renewable capacity.

TERI director general Ajay Mathur echoed his viewpoint. He said, “The target to achieve the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) commitments presents tremendous opportunity to put India at the forefront of economies transitioning towards low carbon growth”.

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The transition would expedite clean energy technology development that in turn will change manufacturing for a sustainable future. The report shows the cost of renewable electricity and its storage is steadily declining and is expected to stabilise at around INR5 per kilo watt hour. This would enable India’s primary aluminium producers to pare down their cost of production and reduce carbon footprint substantially.

“India has a 10-year window where no new investments are likely to be done in coal, gas, or nuclear energy generation" ... "The decarbonisation of power generation is also an opportunity to move other carbon-based sectors like transport to electricity, thus multiplying the benefits of clean energy generation,” Mathur noted.

India is projected to generate around 175,000 MW of renewable power including 100,000 MW of solar power by 2022. In order to align themselves with the vision, aluminium producers have to redesign their R&D initiatives accordingly.

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