AUGUST 20238TOP STORYTOP STORYINDIA'S STEEL PRODUCTION CAN RISE TO 500 M TONNES BY 2050INDIA & SINGAPORE IN TALKS TO LINK GRID TO FACILITATE RENEWABLE ENERGY TRADEIndia and Singapore to join their power systems via an undersea cable via the Andaman & Nicobar Islands have been expedited. This will enable India to sell renewable energy to Singapore. A contract is anticipated to be signed soon.An economic justification for the investment was provided by one of the sources: "The landed cost of the renewable energy that will be exported to Singapore through this arrangement is projected to be less expensive than their gas-based electricity." As part of the Paris Agreement, Singapore also needs to achieve its nationally determined contributions (NDC), and importing renewable energy from India will help it do so.This month's G20 Energy and Clean Energy Ministerial meetings saw negotiations on the topic between the two nations, according to sources. Singapore is enthusiastic about the concept, they claimed, but a thorough investigation will be prepared to determine its continuing viability.Power Grid Corporation of India a state-owned company, is conducting additional research on the project's technical aspects. Singapore had previously stated that it would investigate a number of solutions, including regional power grids, since the country's ability to expand renewable energy is constrained by land scarcity and solar energy that is erratic.The Andaman and Nicobar Islands face particular difficulties with regard to power supply due to their isolation from the mainland. The total installed generation capacity for the union territory is around 109.45 MW, of which diesel-based generation accounts for nearly 91Percentage and the remaining energy comes from solar and hydropower. India's production of steel might double to 500 million tonnes by 2050, roughly four times the current output, as New Delhi strives to support its apparent economic ambitions with quick capacity expansion for the principal infrastructure alloy. According to Vandana Pant, chief commercial officer (CCO) of BHP, the multinational mining corporation, which supplies energy needs for the second-largest steel sector in the world after China, may be a significant growth partner as India increases its output to support rapid economic growth.The primary raw material needed in the making of steel is met coal, also known as coking coal, and India is totally dependent on imports to meet this need. "BHP supplies about 36Percentage of India's need for met coal. It's a sizable sum. Pant stated that BHP supplies one out of every three tonnes of the met coal that India uses.About 40Percentage of the met coal portfolio owned by BHP, the largest natural resource mining corporation in the world, is exported to India. It's a significant partnership for both us and India, according to Pant. India is one of BHP's top three markets for sales. "And India's growth is just beginning, so I think this is just the beginning."India produced over 125 million tonnes of steel in FY23, and New Delhi intends to increase that number to 300 million tonnes by 2030. India can generate about 240 million tonnes of steel in eight years, or treble its current output, even after taking a little haircut. "We believe that India has a lot of iron ore that is of a very high quality, making it a great asset for Indian steel plants. But met coal is not something that would be available in terms of quality or quantity.
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