NAYARA ENERGY SAYS ON TRACK FOR SETTING UP SOLAR POWER PLANTS

Nayara Energy, India’s second biggest private oil refining and fuel marketing company said its solar power plants which will help cut carbon emissions are on track.

“The company is progressing well on its plans to set up a 10 MW solar power plant at its Vadinar refinery in Gujarat, which will help Nayara mitigate approximately 20,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions every year,” it said in a statement without giving timelines.

It has also initiated the development of a 500 kW captive solar power plant at its greenfield rail-fed fuel depot at Pali in Rajasthan late last year. “Scheduled for commissioning by March 2023, the on-grid solar plant will help Nayara reduce its carbon footprint by preventing 730 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year,” it said. The firm operates a 20-million tonnes-a-year capacity oil refinery at Vadinar in Gujarat and has over 6,500 petrol pumps across the country.

Speaking on the company’s plans, Alois Virag, CEO, Nayara Energy, said, “At Nayara, we are committed to reducing our carbon footprint and enhancing environmental sustainability in our operations. In line with government of India’s focus of increasing the penetration of renewable power in the Power Grid, the commissioning of our refinery and Pali Depot Solar Plants will mark a further step in our transition to cleaner and greener sources of energy.” Nayara commissioned its first 300 kVA solar power plant at its Wardha depot in Maharashtra in March 2019. The plant leads to an annual saving of 550 tonnes of CO2 emissions.

As part of the larger objective to transition to greener sources of energy, its franchisees have transitioned 300 retail outlets to solar power, constituting a total of 2MW power generation, with plans to gradually shift more outlets to solar. In addition, the company has also fostered 175 hectares of voluntary mangrove forestation in the vicinity of its Vadinar Refinery, and aims to further increase the existing mangrove cover by 57 per cent to 275 hectares by 2025. Further, about 3,00,000 trees stand tall as part of Nayara’s green belt within its refinery, and the company plans to expand this green cover by another 25 per cent over the next three years.

Source: PTI

INDIA LAUNCHES FIRST-EVER SOVEREIGN GREEN BONDS AUCTION

The Reserve Bank of India will auction 160 billion rupees ($1.93 billion) worth of sovereign green bonds in two tranches, the central bank said, in the government’s first-ever such debt sale to raise funds to finance clean projects.

The RBI will auction 5-year and 10-year green bonds worth 40 billion rupees each on Jan. 25 and on Feb. 9 in what will be a uniform price auction, the central bank said. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the plan to issue sovereign green bonds in the 2022-23 budget as Asia’s third-largest economy attempts to tap the domestic debt market to finance green infrastructure projects.

The proceeds will be used to fund solar power projects, followed by wind and small hydro projects and other “public sector projects which help in reducing the carbon intensity of the economy,” the RBI said.

A green finance working committee, headed by the Chief Economic Adviser V Anantha Nageswaran, will select public sector projects for green financing from those submitted by government departments. The committee’s choice will be guided by environment specialists and representatives from the ministry of environment, forests and climate change, the government said. The committee will identify fresh projects each year and ensure the proceeds from the bond sales are allocated within 24 months from the date of issuance. Market participants expect foreign investors and foreign banks to be active in the auction but do not see local investors showing any major interest.

“Local primary dealers may not be able to do much as there has been no major briefing regarding green bonds and since the announcement of the issuance, foreign banks have been in constant touch with the government,” a trader with a primary dealership said.

The investment in green bonds can qualify towards statutory liquidity ratio (SLR), the minimum percentage of deposits commercial banks are required to invest in liquid assets, such as government bonds. The investment in green bonds will also be designated as specified securities under the ‘Fully Accessible Route’ for foreign investors, where unlimited investment is allowed. ($1 = 82.7330 Indian rupees)

Source: Reuters