Vedanta Aluminium accelerates shift to renewables, deploys biomass for power generation

By Subrat Sarangi

New Delhi, April 22: Vedanta Aluminium, India’s largest producer of aluminium which has major operations in Odisha, is making its fuel mix more sustainable with the deployment of biomass briquettes for power generation. The company is now utilizing 20 tonnes of biomass briquettes per day at its world-class alumina refinery in Lanjigarh in Odisha’s Kalahandi district.

 This will help potentially decrease the unit’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by more than 10,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent each year, in addition to reducing its reliance on fossil fuels, a company official said on Monday.

“On the occasion of Earth Day 2024, this comes as a significant step forward in the company’s journey to achieve Net Zero Carbon by 2050 or sooner,” said the official.

“As India works towards integrating cleaner and more sustainable energy systems, the strategic deployment of biomass co-firing within our operations can play a crucial role in achieving emission reduction goals and supporting rural economies. It forms a critical part of our strategy to evaluate emerging technologies towards decarbonising our operations,” said Pranab Kumar Bhattacharyya, CEO – Alumina Business, Vedanta Ltd, on Monday.

The biomass briquettes are made from agricultural residue sourced from local farmers, who would otherwise simply burn it leading to severe environmental pollution. While fostering a circular economy, Vedanta Aluminium is also augmenting farmers’ incomes in their areas of operations through this initiative by remunerating farmers for their crop stubble. A similar initiative has been rolled out previously at BALCO, India’s iconic aluminium producer and a unit of Vedanta Aluminium based at Korba, Chhattisgarh. Further, the company has entered into long-term power delivery agreements to source 1335 MW of renewable energy to power its operations nation-wide.

The company has also conducted trial runs of biodiesel as a ‘green’ fuel alternative for its fleet of commercial vehicles. In addition, it is the first to induct a 10-ton electric forklift within its operations, adding to India’s largest fleet of electric lithium-ion forklifts deployed at its plants in Odisha and Chhattisgarh.