ReNew Power Commissions Gujarat’s 1st Wind-Solar Hybrid Plant

Indian green firm ReNew Power has commissioned Gujarat’s first wind-solar hybrid project. The plant is set up at the Chlor-Alkali unit of Grasim Industries Ltd., Vilayat district, Bharuch, Gujarat.

The official statement of the company says that the first phase of the hybrid project, with 17.6 MW commercial-scale wind-solar, commenced operations last week and is expected to generate 80 million units of renewable energy every year, mitigating 75,000 tonnes of carbon emissions annually.

ReNew says that their partnership will expand further with an additional 16.68 MW, which will be commissioned in the next financial year (FY23), as part of the second phase. The project is being developed by ReNew Green Solutions (RGS), the B2B arm of ReNew Power.

It has been learnt that both the parties have entered into a 25-year PPA, which will see the project supply power for the plant at Vilayat, Bharuch, via an open access mechanism.

ReNew has also said that once both phases are commissioned with a combined capacity of 34.28 MW, the partnership is expected to generate a total of approximately 160 million units of renewable electricity annually, mitigating a cumulative 150,000 tonnes of carbon emission every year.

Mayank Bansal, Chief Commercial Officer, ReNew Power, maintains, “With corporates increasingly harnessing renewable energy, ReNew aims to develop around 250 MW of wind-solar hybrid projects in Gujarat for commercial and industrial consumers, like we have just done at Vilayat, Bharuch.”

The two phases together have a total investment of Rs 382 crore that comes through an equity partnership. Gujarat notified its solar policy in 2009 and was the first state to announce a hybrid policy in 2018. It has made hybrid plants attractive for investments by corporates by providing incentives such as a waiver on electricity duty.

A renewable energy Independent Power Producer (IPP), ReNew develops, builds, owns, and operates utility-scale wind and solar energy projects, hydro projects and distributed solar energy projects. As of December 31, 2021, ReNew had a total capacity of approximately 10.2 GW of renewable energy projects across India, including commissioned and committed projects.