Sterlite Power Mulls Over Investment of Rs 50,000 Crore in RE in Karnataka

Pratik Agarwal, Managing Director, Sterlite Power, has revealed that his company will invest Rs 50,000 crore in renewable energy in the state of Karnataka. Speaking at the Global Investors’ Meet, Pratik Agarwal held, “Over the next five years, we plan to increase the renewable capacity by 10-fold and invest close to Rs 50,000 crore into renewable generation. A large chunk of this investment will come to Karnataka.”

Mining conglomerate Vedanta Group owns Sterlite Power. The group is presently building more than 1,000 MW of wind and solar hybrid projects in Karnataka to supply the green energy to the smelters based in the distant states of Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Odisha.

Sterlite MD requested the state government of Karnataka to adopt an intra-state transmission model through public private partnership because with rise in electricity consumption at double digits, Karnataka will require continuous strengthening of the grid and several states have already succeeded with this model.

He further added, “We are already developing two critical transmission lines on behalf of the Government of India, one connecting Karnataka to Kerala and the other connecting it to Maharashtra via Goa. Both these lines will be critical for exchange of renewable energy in the coming years.” He also applauded the efforts of Karnataka, especially Bengaluru, in putting India on top of world map as far as technology is concerned.

“We will begin by manufacturing semiconductors and reduce the $16-billion import bill on this account. We will also invest in display manufacturing, as we are already making display glass in Korea and Taiwan and we are the fourth largest in the world. We are envisaging that India should become a net exporter of electronics in the years to come. Karnataka will play a pivotal role in realising this dream,” mentioned Aggarwal.

New Deals Sealed

ABC Cleantech which is owned by Axis Energy Group has signed an agreement with Karnataka Government at the Global Investors’ Meet under which ABC Cleantech will set up up a green hydrogen plant of 0.2 million tonne and 1 million tonne of green ammonia that will be integrated with 5-GW of renewable energy projects. This will attract an investment of Rs 50,000 crore. Several other pacts were signed and announcements made about investments around energy and green hydrogen in Karnataka.