Nayara Energy says on track for setting up solar power plants

New Delhi: Nayara Energy, India's second biggest private oil refining and fuel marketing company, on Tuesday 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.