Karnataka attracts massive investments in wind-solar hybrids

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Karnataka saw eight companies committing a cumulative investment of over INR 75,000 crore in renewable energy, at the recently concluded investors’ summit. 

The wind-solar hybrid segment accounted for the maximum investments, with Azure Power committing INR 13,300 crore, Ayana Renewable Power INR 12,000 crore, EDF Renewables India INR 5,500 crore, Torrent Power INR 5,000 crore and Vena Energy INR 1,300 crore. Vedanta Group committed INR 80,000 crore across renewables, iron ore mining and gold mining combined.

Tata Power Renewable Energy will invest INR 3,000 crore in solar. Leap Green Energy has committed INR 7,500 crore in pumped hydro storage.

“The future of renewable is hybrid. Plain vanilla wind or plain vanilla solar is no longer sufficient to meet the round-the-clock requirements of customers. Customers want green, affordable, and firm power and Karnataka is the one state which has both wind and solar potential coexisting in the same state. It also has attractive sites for pumped hydro storage, which is a critical component of the round-the-clock value chain,” said Pratik Agarwal, managing director of Vedanta Group unit Sterlite Power.

 Vedanta group is currently building over 1 GW of wind-solar hybrid projects in Karnataka and will export this power to its smelters in the states of Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, and Orissa through the interstate transmission network.

 “Over the next five years, we plan to increase our renewable capacity by tenfold and invest close to INR 50,000 crore into renewable generation. A large chunk of that investment will come to this state of Karnataka,” said Agarwal.

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