By Manish Gupta
Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) chairman Arun Kumar Singh on Monday said that the company will invest around Rs 1 trillion in renewable energy by 2030 as it plans to become net zero by 2038.
“We have been working on it (energy transition) and are now confident that we can achieve net zero for Scope-1 and Scope-2 emissions by 2038,” Singh said at a press meet in Mumbai post the financial results on Friday.
The country’s top oil and gas producer is preparing a roadmap for net zero emissions as part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s commitment to become a net zero country by 2070 to deal with climate change.
The company plans to increase its renewable energy generation capacity from the current 189 MW to 10 GW by 2030. It has already planned to set up 5 GW of renewable energy projects in Rajasthan.
“We are also planning a 1 million tonne per annum green ammonia plant in Mangalore. Overall, the investments will be in the range of `1 trillion,” Singh said, adding that offshore wind farms are also on the table.
The only issue bothering ONGC is how to supply renewable energy round the clock (RTC).
ONGC has formed a team to do the research and development on the issue looking at both the battery and non-battery solutions.
“We have cash flow. In comparison to others, we may have it a little easy as we can take some risks,” the chairman said. ONGC believes it is ready to embark on energy transition as its employees are now highly motivated
However, the company will continue investing in fossil fuels as the demand for fossil fuel will continue to rise till 2040, Singh said. ONGC has planned a capital expenditure of Rs 30,125 crore in FY24, similar to last year.
“We spent Rs 10,000 crore in exploration of oil and gas blocks last year and we plan to spend Rs 10,000 crore each year for the next three years,” Singh said. The company plans to increase its current acreage to 5 lakh sq km.
