Indian ITC to meet 50% of energy demand with renewables - report

Sep 10, 2012 - In five years Indian firm ITC Ltd (BOM:500875), active in the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), hotel, paper and packaging and agriculture sectors, intends to cover as much as 50% of its total energy needs with renewables.

It is to pour INR 1 billion (USD 18m/EUR 14m) on renewable energy projects by 2014, daily The Hindu Business Line said on Friday.

The newspaper cited an unnamed ITC official as saying that the company was evaluating the energy demand of its units and looking for ways to best make use of renewables. At present green energy covers some 38% of ITC’s consumption, through 70 MW of wind farms at home and a biomass boiler, the report said.

The official told Business Line that investment in renewables energy would turn cost-effective in the long-term as a result of constantly growing fossil fuels prices, even though the capital expenditure at present was greater than that in conventional energy. In fiscal 2010/11 ITC has spent INR 4.2 billion on electricity and fuel, with the amount growing to INR 4.5 billion in fiscal 2011/12.

(INR 100 = USD 1.804/EUR 1.412)

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