ONGC to Invest Rs 1 Trillion to Go Green: State-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), the largest oil exploration and production (E&P) company in the country has set an ambitious target to produce 10 GW of renewable energy at an investment of a whopping Rs 1 trillion by the end of this decade. This is one of the largest green initiatives, taken up by any Public Sector Enterprise in the country.
ONGC Chairman, Mr. Arun Singh said: ”The energy landscape is currently undergoing a significant and complex transformation. This evolution has driven a stronger emphasis on cleaner energy sources. ONGC view(s) this transformation as an integral facet of the inevitable evolution that the energy industry must embrace.”
Mr Singh further added that “Amidst this transformation, the role of ONGC, as the leading energy explorer in the country, becomes even more central. We are continuously evolving and adapting to changed realities.”
The Chairman has informed the company is “also actively exploring collaborations with leading players in the energy space on various low carbon energy opportunities including renewables, green hydrogen, green ammonia and other derivatives of green hydrogen.” This is in line with the Government of India’s green hydrogen mission which has been given a strong push in the last budget, tabled in February 2023.
ONGC has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with renewable energy company Greenko ZeroC to make green hydrogen, and to jointly pursue opportunities in renewables, and other derivatives of green hydrogen.
Sources said ONGC is in talks with several other leading companies in the solar and wind sectors in Europe and in the US. The Navratna company has also inked an MoU with the Public Sector SJVN Green Energy Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Miniratna SJVN for collaboration in the fields of renewable energy including hydro-power and hydro-storage development plan.
Presently ONGC has a portfolio of around 189 MW worth of installed renewable energy capacity that includes wind farms and solar PV installations.
According to a senior official, the newly created Strategy Division, which is going to get a new director on the board soon, is driving the renewable energy initiatives with a highly trained and dedicated team of engineers.
This initiative, he said, will exponentially shore up the company’s ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) rating which is currently sagging leading to a litany of issues for lining up domestic and external commercial borrowings at a cheaper cost.
“Recognizing the importance of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) aspects, we have set goals to achieve Net-Zero (carbon emission) by 2038. Integrating sustainable practices into our operations have enabled us to lower our Scope-1 and Scope-2 emissions by 17% in the last five years,” said the Chairman while informing that “In FY’23, ONGC has reduced its emissions by 2.66 per cent to 8.89 MMTCO2e, from 9.14 MMTCO2e in FY’22.