India’s largest oil and gas producer ONGC plans to amass a 5-10GW renewable energy portfolio with a focus on offshore wind, its managing director told reporters in New Delhi.
Shashi Shanker set out the ambition as part of a wider $16bn investment plan to diversify its operations by 2040, said Indian news agency PTI.
“The energy landscape is on the verge of a rapid and fundamental transformation,” said Shanker.
ONGC currently has renewables interests totaling just 150MW of onshore wind and about 12MW of solar, according to the company’s website.
ONGC is majority-owned by the Indian government, which last year unveiled offshore wind targets of 5GW in 2022 and 30GW by 2030.
Market commentators in India expect large domestic oil groups or power utilities to partner with foreign players that have experience in the sector in Europe or elsewhere in Asia for the first spate of Indian projects.
An Expressions of Interest process launched by the company attracted a roll-call of global offshore wind developers and suppliers, but a planned 1GW initial tender for a project off the state of Gujarat has yet to be launched.
Recharge revealed in June that India is lining up $900m of ‘viability gap funding’ to underpin the economics of the initial project and kick-start the offshore wind sector in the country.
Source: PTI
