As part of its commitment towards climate stabilisation and use of unconventional energy, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited has started activities to set up 8.4 MW DC solar power plant at its Kochi Refinery campus.
The ground breaking ceremony was conducted the other day in the presence of Ajith Kumar K, Executive Director (Kochi Refinery) and Shelly Abraham, Head (BPCL Renewable Energy).
The plant will be spread across 25 acres at the Irumpanam side of the refinery, and on completion, would generate about 123 lakh units annually for its consumption.
Ajith Kumar, Executive Director (Kochi Refinery) said, “This is another step towards enhancing the green energy capabilities of BPCL Kochi Refinery. We continue our path towards sustainability, energy conservation and production of green energy through roof-mounted and ground-mounted solar power projects. In 2018, we commissioned a roof-mounted 120 kWp solar power plant and we are increasingly pursuing solar energy options at the refinery.
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Shelly Abraham said, “we are also looking at setting up such plants in our depots at Tadali, Badnera, Sanganer and Karur. We have established a separate Renewable Energy Business Unit last year to meet the aspirations of BPCL in the field of energy transition and to help in achieving Net Zero by 2040 in Scope 1 and 2 emissions. We are now exploring various opportunities to scale up the green energy portfolio, including participating in power purchase tenders and studying the feasibility of setting up solar power projects at land banks owned by the company. A MoU was signed with Solar Energy Corporation of India for leveraging their expertise in developing solar power projects,” he said.
BPCL has huge plans to build a strong renewable energy portfolio aiming to achieve 1 gigawatt of renewable energy by 2025. The setting up of the solar power plant at Kochi Refinery is in line with these plans.