NEWS
WITH INDIA’S LARGEST FLOATING SOLAR PLANT, ANDHRA PRADESH MAKES ITS MARK ON THE WORLD STAGE
GAIL TO VENTURE INTO HYDROGEN PRODUCTION
W
ith its business evolving beyond natural gas to align with global energy transition, India’s largest gas company GAIL will expand hydrogen generation and scale up its renewable energy portfolio through acquisitions. Manoj Jain, Chairman and Managing Director of GAIL, noted that as part of an effort to embrace cleaner forms of energy, GAIL will build pipeline infrastructure to connect consumption centres to gas sources and also expand its renewable energy portfolio. The global energy sector is undergoing a paradigm shift as the world moves toward a sustainable energy future, he said in the company’s latest annual report. In order to achieve a cleaner primary energy mix for India, the government is emphasizing the expansion of the natural gas sector along with the growth of renewable power sources. As an integrated energy major, GAIL is aligned with this vision, he said. According to him, the firm is laying around 6,000 kilometers of pipeline, including one from Mumbai to Jharsuduga in Odisha via Nagpur. Currently, it has a natural gas pipeline network of around 13,700 km.
N
ow that the state-run NTPC has commissioned the country’s largest floating solar power plant on the Simhadri coal-fired power station reservoir in Vishakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh will have India’s largest floating solar power plant available.
Hydrogen is a clean fuel that, when burned in a fuel cell, only produces water. Several countries are working on hydrogen production from domestic sources such as natural gas, nuclear power, biomass, and renewable electricity sources such as solar and wind.
Since floating solar power projects do not require large swaths of non-forest, non-farming land, they are considered a game-changer in India’s effort to build 450 Gigawatts of renewable energy capacity. In addition to reducing temperature-related losses, floating solar reduces evaporation rates and maintenance costs because they float on water.
Companies such as Reliance Industries, Indian Oil Corporation, and NTPC have announced ambitious plans to generate hydrogen in India. GAIL has now been added to that list.
NTPC has installed a solar system spanning 75 acres over the Simhadri reservoir. Using more than a lakh solar PV modules, the project will provide electricity for 7,000 homes. The initiative is expected to save 46,000 tonnes of CO2 and 1,364 million litres of water each year, enough to meet the needs of 6,700 homes for one year. As part of its goal to go green by 2032, the coalburning company will build a 60-gigawatt wind farm. Additionally, the project is the first under the power ministry’s 2018 ‘flexibility programme,’ which can deliver power from any of their sources as long as it is efficient, reducing discoms’ costs. NTPC is also constructing a 100 MW floating solar power plant in Tamil Nadu on the reservoir of its Ramagundam thermal power plant. With NHPC’s help, the Green Energy Development Corporation of Odisha Ltd has investigated, planned, and built a total of 500 MW of floating solar power projects on the state’s reservoirs.
8
DAWN
September 2021
GAIL has partnered with the state-run power equipment maker BHEL in its renewable energy venture. The tie-up aims to take advantage of the strengths of both companies. The project developer will be GAIL, while BHEL will be the EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) contractor. With a market share of 75 per cent in transmission and 50 per cent in energy trading, GAIL’s move is seen as part of the government’s plan to increase the share of gas in the energy mix in India to 15 per cent by 2030 from the current 6.2 per cent.
