In Q1 FY 21-22, Vedanta Aluminium Business, India's largest manufacturer of aluminium and value-added products, became the country's largest green electricity buyer on the Indian Energy Exchange Limited (IEX) platform's Green Market. Vedanta purchased 354 million units of solar and non-solar renewable energy from IEX's Green Term-Ahead Market (GTAM) for its largest integrated aluminium production facility in Jharsuguda, Odisha.
IEX is the country's largest power exchange and a renowned energy marketplace. GTAM, which was developed by IEX last year, assists purchasers in obtaining green energy in the most cost-effective and flexible manner possible. By purchasing green power from the exchange, companies like Vedanta and the industry as a whole have been able to meet their carbon-reduction goals while also producing ‘green' value-added products. Vedanta Aluminium purchased more than 35% of the green power units traded on the IEX in the first quarter of FY22.
Speaking about Vedanta’s approach to carbon mitigation, Rahul Sharma, Deputy CEO, Vedanta Aluminium Business, stated, “Our sustainability imperatives are designed to fulfil our climate impact reduction targets, which are completely aligned with the goals of the Paris Agreement and the Government of India’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC).” To that aim, we have worked hard to implement global best practices in energy management and use innovative technology to lower our carbon impact. Our long-term objective is to transition to a low-carbon energy mix, with a progressive shift away from fossil fuels and toward renewable energy, in order to generate green aluminium.”
Vedanta Aluminium’s energy stewardship is manifested through a two-pronged strategy: a laser focus on achieving maximum asset and process efficiency for excellent energy management, and a roadmap to carbon neutrality that includes adopting the right mix of feasible avenues for increasing green energy consumption share. Vedanta Aluminium, for example, received three gold awards from the Society of Energy Engineers and Managers (SEEM) National Energy Management Awards 2020 for outstanding energy performance at its Jharsuguda Aluminium Smelters I & II and Captive Power Plant.
Smelter-I in Jharsuguda and the Alumina Refinery in Lanjigarh were both awarded ‘First Prize’ by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) of the Government of India at the prestigious National Energy Conservation Awards 2020 (NECA 2020). An Alumina Refinery is a factory that refines bauxite (the aluminium ore) to generate aluminium oxide or alumina, while an Aluminum Smelter is a plant that electrolytically reduces alumina to obtain pure aluminium.
Rohit Bajaj, Senior Vice President & Head-Business Development, IEX, praised Vedanta Aluminium’s green energy stewardship, saying, “At IEX, our constant focus has been to build a customer-centric energy marketplace leveraging innovation and technology towards building India as a sustainable and efficient energy economy.” The Green Term-Ahead Market allows market players to trade in delivery-based solar and non-solar renewable energy at the most competitive and flexible prices.
The market segment has been open for over a year and has had a fantastic reaction from industries, particularly those who use a lot of energy, as well as distribution utilities. "IEX congratulates Vedanta Aluminium Business for being a pioneer in the green market and values its efforts in motivating the industry at large to increase green energy procurement and minimise carbon footprint. We believe India Inc. Has a critical role to play in ensuring the sector and our country have a sustainable energy future”, added Rohit Bajaj.
The operations of Vedanta Aluminium are in line with the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures' guidelines (TCFD). The business units of Vedanta Aluminium have long been leaders in energy efficiency and sustainability. A few noteworthy initiatives and highlights include: Vedanta Aluminium has lowered its GHG emission intensity by 21% since 2012, and it expects to reduce it by a further 24% by 2025, compared to the same baseline. Vedanta Aluminium's captive assets reduced indirect energy use by 2 million Giga Joules (GJ) between FY20 and FY21. In FY 20-21, climate action measures across all Business Units saved 1.4 million GJ in energy and 0.32 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e) in GHG emissions.
Vedanta’s Jharsuguda aluminium smelter is the first in India and the third in the world to employ the Digital Smelter Solution, which combines digital twin technology to improve energy efficiency. Since 2013, the smelter in Jharsuguda has had an ISO 50001 certified for its Energy Management System, making it the first in Asia. Bharat Aluminium Company (BALCO), a Vedanta subsidiary in Chhattisgarh, achieved the lowest specific power consumption in its Potline-I in 2020, setting a benchmark among India’s and Gulf countries’ aluminium smelters. A potline is a long building, or a group of buildings, at a smelter that holds a series of “pots,” or giant electrolytic cells, where aluminium is smelted.Vedanta’s “Carbon Forum” is actively guiding the company’s carbon reduction strategy’s implementation.
Vedanta Aluminium Business in Odisha and Chhattisgarh, a branch of Vedanta Limited, is India’s largest aluminium maker, producing half of the country’s aluminium, or 1.96 million tonnes in FY21. It is a market leader in value-added aluminium products that are used in a variety of industries. The company achieves its aim of encouraging emerging applications of aluminium as the “Metal of the Future” for a greener tomorrow in India, where it operates world-class Aluminium Smelters, Alumina Refineries, and Power Plants.
