BENGALURU: The Vedanta group is currently building over 1,000-megawatt wind/solar hybrid projects in Karnataka and will send it to the smelters in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Odisha through the inter-state transmission network.
“Over the next five years, we plan to increase the renewable capacity by 10-fold and invest close to Rs 50,000 crore into renewable generation. A large chunk of this investment will come to Karnataka,” said Pratik Agarwal, Managing Director, Sterlite Power.
Sterlite Power is owned by Vedanta group.
Speaking at the Global Investors’ Meet, Agarwal urged the Karnataka government to adopt an intra-state transmission model through PPP (public private partnership). “As electricity consumption grows at double digits, the state will need continuous strengthening of the grid. Many states have already tasted success with this model.
We are already developing two critical transmission lines on behalf of the Government of India, one connecting Karnataka to Kerala and the other connecting it to Maharashtra via Goa. Both these lines will be critical for exchange of renewable energy in the coming years,” he elaborated.
He said Karnataka has made one of the biggest contributions to brand India globally, and Bengaluru specifically has put India on the world map of technology. Agarwal said the next mission is to reduce India’s dependence on imported electronics.
“We will begin by manufacturing semiconductors and reduce the $16-billion import bill on this account. We will also invest in display manufacturing, as we are already making display glass in Korea and Taiwan and we are the fourth largest in the world,” he added.
“We are envisaging that India should become a net exporter of electronics in the years to come. Karnataka will play a pivotal role in realising this dream,” he added.
At the investors’ meet, ABC Cleantech, a part of Axis Energy Group -- which is one of the leading renewable energy players, announced that it had signed an MoU with the Karnataka government for setting up a green hydrogen production unit of 0.2 million tonne/annum and 1 million tonne/annum of green ammonia integrated with 5 GW of renewable energy projects with an investment outlay of Rs 50,000 crore.
This manufacturing unit is proposed to generate employment for close to 5,000 people over 10 years.