CLP India (formerly, China Light and Power), an independent power producer with presence in both thermal and renewable energy, has changed its name to Apraava Energy.  

In a chat with Business Line today, Apraava Energy’s Managing Director, Mr Rajiv Ranjan Mishra, said that the company would no longer invest in fossil fuel-based energy capacity, commit itself to ‘science-based targets’ and aim to double its business over the next five years, with all the additional growth coming in green energy generation and transmission. 

CLP, which has been in India for over two decades, runs 3,100 MW of power capacity, of which thermal accounts for 1,320 MW, gas 655 MW, operating wind 1,024 MW, under-construction wind 250 MW and solar 250 MW, apart from a 240 km of transmission line in Madhya Pradesh.  In 2018, Canada-based CDPQ took 40 per cent stake in it. 

In its new avatar as Apraava, the company would look at more renewable energy, green hydrogen and energy storage, and would continue to be interested in transmission.  

Asked if Apraava would divest its 1,320 MW of coal-fired plants, Mishra said that no decision had been taken on it yet, but stressed that the two 660 MW supercritical plants were as clean as a thermal power plant could possibly be, fitted as they are with flue gas desulphurization units. The power purchase agreement runs till 2037. 

Likewise, he said that any plans for green hydrogen were yet to be concretized; at present, it is only an intent.  

Answering a question, Mishra said that the company had always been very active in trading carbon offsets; its plants had earned 13.4 million offsets, equivalent to 13.14 million tons of carbon dioxide avoided. Apraava looks forward to opening up of carbon ‘compliance’ markets, possibly after the upcoming COP26 climate conference next month. 

Apraava has also signed up for ‘science-based targets’, becoming only the fifth Indian power company to do so, and only the second power company with thermal assets, after Tata Power. Agreeing to Science-based targets refers to undertaking decarbonizing measures that are aligned to the international aim to limit global warming to either 2 degrees Celsius, or a more ambitious 1.5 degree Celsius—to be achieved by 2100, over the average global temperatures as prevailed in the pre-industrial days.  

Science-based targets are co-ordinated by CDP (climate disclosure project), a body that would give specific climate-mitigating targets the companies on-board—targets that are aligned to either “2 degrees” or “1.5 degrees” aims. 

Asked if Apraava would actively use the energy exchanges to sell its power, Mishra said that the company (as CLP) had always been using the opportunity of selling power through the exchanges.  

Mishra also mentioned that in due course, Apraava would take Indian shareholders, either through an IPO or selling stake to an Indian company. 

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