ITC wind farms in AP caught in ‘cross fire'

Wind energy farms set up by ITC Limited are caught in the ‘cross fire’ between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana over wheeling issue.

The diversified corporate house, which has set up a series of wind farms to meet its internal requirements, is forced to pump the power generated into the grid for the past few months as there is lack of mechanism to wheel the power to its manufacturing units.

As a result, it has supplied renewable energy worth Rs 12 crore free into the Andhra Pradesh Grid as it could not use it due to lack of wheeling arrangement.

Sanjay Singh, Divisional Chief Executive of ITC’s Paperboards and Specialty Papers Division, said, “It is extremely critical to permit banking of wind and solar energy in Andhra Pradesh and to protect projects that were under construction at the time of the bifurcation of the two states.”

“Exemption of transmission and wheeling charges for wind generators would contribute to the increased use of renewable energy which is critical to combat the environmental challenges of global warming and climate change,” he felt.

ITC has invested Rs 300 crore in a wind farms in Anantapur in Andhra Pradesh for captive usage at factories in Chirala, Anaparthi (now in Andhra) and Bhadrachalam (now in Telangana).

Due to the complexities post the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, and the lack of wheeling agreements that encourage wind energy, ITC has not been able to utilise the wind power generated for its units in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh for the last few months.

Having adopted a low-carbon growth path, ITC has invested in the expansion of its renewable energy portfolio with nearly 40 per cent its total energy consumption is met from renewable sources. The company expects this to touch 50 per cent over the next 4-5 years.

While the power generated from wind farms in the last few months has been pumped into the AP Grid, the company continues to suffer.

Several ITC factories, five luxury hotels and the ITC Infotech Park in Bengaluru are powered by renewable energy. ITC has a total installed capacity of over 130 MW in wind energy with an investment of nearly Rs 800 crore.

According to Singh, a uniform renewable energy policy in various states with a single window solution for all approvals would go a long way in incentivising corporates to invest on a large scale in the use of renewable energy sector.

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