UPL Burnishes Green Cred With Green Power Deal

Global Agri solutions firm UPL Limited has announced a joint venture with CleanMax Enviro Energy Solutions, a Mumbai-based renewable energy company, to establish a hybrid solar-wind energy power plant in Gujarat, India.

UPL and CleanMax will set-up and operate a hybrid captive power plant with a capacity of 28.05 MW of solar power and 33 MW of wind power. Combining two of the fastest growing renewable energy technologies, this project will enable UPL to increase its renewable energy usage to 30% of its total global power consumption (against 8% currently). The hybrid plant should be able to provide much more consistent supply to UPL than a standalone solar or wind plant.

Jai Shroff, Global CEO of UPL, said: “At UPL, we are committed to Reimagining Sustainability internally as well as with our farming partners. Ensuring we have access to reliable, clean energy will help realize that vision as we significantly reduce our carbon footprint. We look forward to welcoming CleanMax to our OpenAg network through this partnership and are excited to be joining India’s green energy wave.”

Kuldeep Jain, Founder & Managing Director, CleanMax said, “This 61.05 MW captive wind solar hybrid project is a part of a larger wind solar hybrid farm developed by CleanMax in Gujarat. The overall capacity of the CleanMax wind solar hybrid farm stands at over 400 MW; comprising 230 MW wind and 180 MW solar; leading to carbon abatement of 8.75 Lakh tonnes of CO2 equivalent per annum.”

The deal underscores the pick up in the C&I segment since 2020, with more and more corporates seeing value and necessity in going for green energy. That has led to a realignment of the market in India, with many of the largest developers like Avaada, ReNew Power pushing for a larger footprint in the C&I market now.