Gail eyes 1 GW renewable energy capacity, to set up biogas, ethanol plants

GAIL (India) Ltd will invest about Rs 5,000 crore to build a portfolio of at least 1 gigawatts of renewable energy and set up compressed biogas as well as ethanol plants as it steps up efforts to expand the business beyond natural gas.

As part of a push to embrace cleaner forms of energy, GAIL will be laying pipeline infrastructure to connect consumption centers to gas sources and spend as much as Rs 4,000 crore on renewable energy, GAIL Chairman and Managing Director Manoj Jain said.

“We are a business that is already eco-friendly – gas. And now we want to leverage our position to go greener in line with the vision of the government and the Prime Minister to cut carbon emissions and pollution,” he said.

While electricity generated from solar energy or through wind power is the cleanest form of energy, converting municipal waste into compressed biogas will supplement the availability of cleaner fuel to automobiles and households.

Also, it plans to set up ethanol units that can convert agriculture waste or sugarcane into less polluting fuel that can be doped in petrol, helping cut India’s import dependence, he said.

While the renewable energy push would cost Rs 4,000 crore, setting up at least two compressed biogas plants and an ethanol factory would entail an investment of about Rs 800-1,000 crore, he said.