MAY 20239As the country works to achieve its 2030 clean power goal, India will more than increase the capacity of auctions used to distribute renewable energy projects. During the year through March 2024, the federal government intends to reach agreements on the installation of 50 gigawatts of solar and wind projects. In the previous five fiscal years, there were on average 15 gigawatts of electricity auctioned each year.To meet a target of 500 gigawatts of renewable energy generation capacity by 2030, which will include include hydroelectric and nuclear plants, the country is speeding up project installations.The need for fresh investment has been highlighted by the rising need for power, but projects in India face difficulties like high lending rates and competition from industrialised countries giving green subsidies. BNEF analyst Rohit Gadre, delivering more renewables projects will also require enough land to put the installations and long-term electricity customers. According to Gadre, these elements are "critical to the success of the plan, failing which it is likely that the tenders will be under-subscribed".While there is increased interest in contracts from the commercial and industrial sector, rising energy demand is encouraging some governments to pursue new long-term renewable power arrangements to supplement current coal-fired capacity. Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) intends to invest Rs.1 lakh crore by 2030 to increase its petrochemicals production capacity, which will include new facilities to create chemicals directly from oil. The ONGC proposal is a component of a bigger government initiative to assist India in becoming a significant global petrochemical centre. ONGC's subsidiaries Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) and ONGC Petro additions Ltd (OPaL) would likely carry out its plans. The other division of ONGC, Hindustan Petroleum Corp (HPCL), has distinct petrochemical aspirations.MRPL and OPaL's combined petrochemical capacity is intended to more than double to 8 million metric tonnes annually by 2030. According to the growth plan, there will be two major projects put up, one on each of the east and west coasts. The plants will either utilise alternative feedstocks or use crude directly to make chemicals. The crude that ONGC produces in the nation can also serve as a feedstock for its crude-to-chemical operation. Petrochemicals proposals for ONGC are still in the planning stages and have not yet been presented to the board. For the story, ONGC declined to comment.Prior to beginning its significant petchem development, ONGC will also need to address OPaL's lopsided capital structure, which has built debt totaling 35,000 crore on a relatively small equity base. A joint venture between ONGC and GAIL is called OPaL. An international consultancy and a team of distinguished specialists are developing a strategy to either find a new equity partner for OPaL or make it an ONGC subsidiary.The government previously turned down ONGC's proposal to inject $10,000 crore in equity, which might have aided OPaL in becoming an ONGC subsidiary. The decrease in the supply of low-cost domestic natural gas, a feedstock, as the government shifted supply to other sectors of the economy, presents another recent difficulty for ONGC's petchem operation. Increased reliance on expensive imported petrol results from this. ONGC INTENDS TO INVEST RS.1 LAKH CRORE TO INCREASE PETCHEM CAPACITY BY 2030INDIA TO INCREASE ITS RENEWABLE ENERGY AUCTIONS AS 2030 GREEN TARGET LOOMSTOP STORIES
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