Steel plants in Punjab, which constitute a large small and medium enterprise (SME) cluster in northern India, have begun working for a cleaner and greener environment.
A few industrialists from the region have set up wind turbine projects to provide cleaner energy, and others are considering following their example.
Jai Prakash Goyal, managing director of Bhawani Industries, based in Mandi Gobindgarh (Punjab), has set up a 0.6 Mw wind turbine in Rajasthan and intends to set up a similar wind energy project in Madhya Pradesh. The total investment in the Rajasthan project is Rs 3.51 crore, 70 per cent of which was raised through debt and the rest through equity.
Bhawani Industries manufactures a whole range of steel products for the engineering, automotive, hand tool, structural, construction and allied industries. “The aim of setting up the wind turbine project was to help make the environment cleaner and greener,” said Goyal. The electricity being produced through the plant is being sold within the state only.
His brother, Ramesh Goyal, has also set up two wind turbine projects, one of 0.6 Mw capacity and the other of 1.25 Mw, in Rajasthan. Goyal now intends to set up a 1.5 Mw project in Tamil Nadu or Karnataka.
Ludhiana-based Jindal Fine Industries, which manufactures and exports bicycle parts, has also set up a wind turbine project in Rajasthan. The 1.25 Mw wind turbine generator or windmill was set up one year ago.
Anmol Jaggi of Gensol Consultants, which advises companies on carbon foot-printing and mitigation, and helps them set up wind turbine and solar energy projects, said wind turbines not only reduce carbon footprints on the globe, but also help companies earn and gain from trading in carbon credits.
Jaggi said industrialists setting up wind turbine projects not only earn by selling clean electricity to the state grid (21 lakh units annually for a 1 Mw turbine) but also gain from the carbon credits.
He noted a 1 Mw wind energy project could help the company that has set it up gain 1,500 carbon credits annually and, with subsequent debt repayment in four or five years, the wind turbine becomes a source of free cash-flow for the company.
