Nalco eyes 200-300 MW green power with battery storage for clean aluminium

State-owned Nalco is transitioning its power-intensive smelting operations to renewable energy sources, and plans to set up 200-300 MW of green power capacity backed by battery storage to ensure a reliable supply and significantly cut overall carbon emissions.
Nalco, which currently relies 100 per cent on coal-based captive power plants that account for 80 per cent of its carbon emissions, plans to ramp up its efforts to produce green aluminium, its Chairman-cum-Managing Director (CMD) Brijendra Pratap Singh said.
The smelting process, which constitutes 35-40 per cent of production costs, draws power from in-house coal plants at Rs 3-3.5 per unit, while green power rates hover at Rs 4.5-5 per unit, he said.
In a bid to address this, National Aluminium Company Ltd (Nalco) is pursuing power purchase agreements (PPAs), developing its own green power plants, and appointing a consultant to devise strategies for securing green energy at minimal cost with round-the-clock availability, he .