India is working steadily towards sustainability, with a major focus on Green Energy generation and promotion. The Ministry of Coal and Ministry of New & Renewable Energy have decided to work together in a bid to promote green energy. The decision was taken during a secretary-level joint meeting between the two ministries last week.
In the meeting, it has been decided that the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE) will provide technical, policy & capacity building support while the Ministry of Coal will provide land, capital and undertake implementation of solar energy, green hydrogen and other renewable energy projects.
MNRE will support the Ministry of Coal and its CPSEs for capacity building training of engineers, technicians and other functionaries through National Institute of Solar Energy (NISE).
Suitable knowledge partnership through IIT Roorkee, Solar Energy Corporation of India and other resource agencies associated with MNRE shall also be provided.
Green Hydrogen & Solar Projects
In the high-level meeting, it was decided that coal companies have de-coaled and surplus land masses and such land can be offered for setting up of green hydrogen projects by the private investors. Coal CPSEs also have de-coaled land mass in the open cast mines where there is naturally available water storage reservoir and head of average 100 meter height. By construction of top reservoir, such de-coaled mines can be converted into pump storage projects. It was decided to work faster to set up such projects.
Coal CPSEs have huge land mass in the form of overburden dumps which can be put to use for setting up of the solar projects. It was decided to undertake full assessment and to cover all the government buildings and houses with roof top solar in Mission Mode.
Work in progress for Net Zero
The Central Public Sector Undertakings (CPSEs) of the Ministry of Coal, Coal India Limited, NLC India Limited and Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) are already working on a net zero plan. Over 1600 MW solar Energy generation capacity have been installed while work on another 500 MW solar projects is in progress.
CPSEs under the Ministry of Coal will create a generation capacity of about 12 GW by year 2030. The Ministry of Coal is in the process of identification of about 10 patches of land of more than 300 acres each so as to offer to private investors for setting up of green hydrogen projects under the policy of MNRE.
MoU between NTPC and Oil India Limited
NTPC, the largest integrated power utility corporation of India and Oil India Limited, the second-largest national oil and gas company, recently joined hands to work together for renewable energy. India’s largest power generation company NTPC Limited and Oil India Limited signed a Memorandum of Understanding in August this year to explore collaboration in the areas of renewable energy, green hydrogen and its derivatives, and decarbonization initiatives including through use of geothermal energy.
The MoU is also expected to facilitate sharing of knowledge and experience on upcoming decarbonization technologies such as carbon sequestration. Through the MoU, the two Maharatna giants intend to enhance their footprint in the domain of renewable energy and foray into sustainable solutions towards achieving the nation’s target of achieving Net Zero by the year 2070.
