Balconagar (India CSR): The Bharat Aluminium Company Limited (BALCO), India’s iconic aluminium producer, and a subsidiary of Vedanta Aluminium Business, is greenifying its fuel mix for thermal power generation with biomass briquettes. The company is utilizing 40-50 tonnes of biomass briquettes per day and has plans to further increase the quantum of biomass consumption to reduce its reliance on fossil fuel. This initiative has the potential for decreasing BALCO’s GHG emissions by 4.3 lakh tonnes of CO2 equivalent annually, in a strong stride towards Vedanta Aluminium’s target of Net Zero Carbon by 2050.
Further, as these biomass briquettes are made from agricultural residue, as per the guidelines of Ministry of Power, Government of India, it also serves to curb burning of agricultural residue which has serious negative impact on the environment. With the added benefits of fostering circular economy, BALCO is also contributing towards increasing farmers’ income in the region as they get to sell their agro-waste profitably.
Speaking about the company’s endeavours towards carbon neutrality, Abhijit Pati, CEO & Director, BALCO, said, “BALCO is committed to be an active participant sustainable growth of Chhattisgarh and India at large. We are undertaking a multitude of initiatives to reduce our carbon footprint. Through such initiatives we aim to achieve the larger goal of creating a sustainable future for the generations to come and we are dedicatedly driving the Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) dimensions of sustainability for building a greener tomorrow.”
Pulkit Saxena, Director of Bhoomi Agro Produce Pvt. Ltd., which is supplying biomass briquettes to BALCO, said, “I would like to congratulate BALCO and its team members for their commendable efforts to use biomass briquettes for lowering coal usage. The use of such green fuels will have a positive impact on environment as well as to the agro-waste value chain, which includes small and marginal farmers. Such an initiative by a climate-conscious organization like BALCO will set an example for others too. We are proud to be their partners in this environment friendly initiative.”
Working towards its ESG goals, BALCO has recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology (VNIT) Nagpur for using their green concrete solution for road construction inside the plant, as well as nearby areas. Striving to achieve the goal of 100% fly ash (a by-product of thermal power generation using coal) utilization, BALCO is also supplying conditioned fly ash through rakes to cement manufacturers. BALCO’s potline 1 is a benchmark amongst aluminium smelters in Indian and Gulf countries for its current efficiency and power consumption – a testimony to the company’s high operational efficiencies.
(India CSR)
