ITC commissions first offsite solar plant in Tamil Nadu

Diversified business entity ITC on Tuesday said it has commissioned its first offsite solar plant at Dindigul in Tamil Nadu, set up at an investment of Rs 76 crore.

The 14.9 MW solar plant will help reduce CO2 emissions over the course of its lifetime and has already helped ITC meet 90 per cent of its electricity requirement from renewable sources in Tamil Nadu, the company said in a statement. As part of its ‘Sustainability 2.0’ project under the leadership of Chairman Sanjiv Puri, ITC plans to “meet 100 per cent of the entire grid electricity requirements from renewable sources by 2030 and contribute meaningfully to combat the threat of climate change”.

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ITC Ltd Group Head ITC Life Sciences & Technology, Central Projects, EHS & Quality Assurance, Sanjiv Rangrass said ITC has pursued a mission for environmental stewardship through a gamut of large scale endeavours that comprehensively address the threat of climate change. “Our large-scale investments in renewable energy assets are an integral part of our low carbon strategy aimed at making a meaningful contribution to a net zero economy,” he added.

The company’s renewable energy portfolio comprises 138 MW of wind power plants and 14 MW of solar plants with 53MW of additional solar capacity under execution. “Currently, projects are also underway in other sources of renewable energy like biomass boilers. The company has made investments of over Rs 1,000 crore in renewable energy assets to date,” it said.

ITC said apart from investing in new renewable energy assets, under its ‘Sustainability 2.0’ agenda, it aims to achieve a 50 per cent reduction in specific emissions and a 30 per cent reduction in specific energy consumption by 2030 over a 2014-15 baseline.