Ambuja Cement Commissions 200 MW Solar Power Project
16 Dec 2024 CW Team
Ambuja Cement, a cement company under the Adani Group, has commissioned and begun power transmission from its 200 MW solar power project in Khavada, Gujarat. The solar power from the project will help Ambuja Cement save 70% of its current electricity costs.
The company received standing clearance for this solar power project from the Western Regional Load Dispatch Centre (WRLDC) on December 12, 2024.
An additional 806 MW of renewable energy capacity is expected to be commissioned in phases between March 2025 and June 2025. Of this, 156 MW of wind power from Khavada and 300 MW of solar power from Rajasthan is expected to be commissioned in phases by March 2025. The remaining 350 MW is expected to be commissioned by June 2025.
This project marks the first phase of Ambuja Cement’s “Green Energy Project,” with an investment of ?100 billion (~$1.17 billion). It includes the development of 1 GW of renewable energy sources, comprising solar and wind energy, and 376 MW of waste heat recovery systems.
In its Integrated Report 2023-24, the company stated that it used 19.1% renewable energy for its operations and seeks to increase this percentage to 60% by 2030. Ambuja Cement plans to implement 1 GW of solar and wind energy by financial year (FY) 2026 and has invested ?60 billion (~$723 million) for the project development. The projects are set to be developed in Rajasthan and Gujarat.
During 2023, out of 70.3 million gigajoules (GJ) of total energy consumed by the company, 4.8 million GJ was obtained from renewable sources.
In October this year, UltraTech Cement announced it would procure an additional 7 MW of wind-solar hybrid power from Continuum MP Windfarm, raising the total procurement from 14 MW to 21 MW.
Another builder material company, Dalmia Cement, announced that it would procure wind power 6MW from Atria’s wind power project in Karnataka as a captive consumer.
Credit rating agency ICRA has projected that green power will account for about 40-42% of the total power mix of major cement companies in India by March 2025, a significant increase from around 35% as of March 2023.