Indian Oil Corp to fuel expansion with green power

Indian Oil Corp will seek to cut emissions by using clean electricity from the grid to fuel its capacity expansion, instead of building its own power plants, the country’s top refiner said on Friday.

IOC, which controls about a third of India’s 5 million barrels per day (bpd) of refining capacity, aims to raise its capacity by about 500,000 bpd by 2023-24.

“We have got several expansion plans down the line which are already approved. We will not have a captive power plant and will utilise power from the grid, preferably green power. This will help decarbonise some part of the manufacturing,” it said.

IOC also plans to build a green hydrogen plant at its 160,000 bpd Mathura refinery in Uttar Pradesh.

“Indian Oil has a wind power project in Rajasthan. We intend to wheel that power to our Mathura refinery to produce absolutely green hydrogen through electrolysis,” S.M. Vaidya, chairman of IOC said in the statement.

Green hydrogen, derived from water electrolysis using renewable energy such as solar or wind, will replace carbon-emitting fuels used in the refinery to process crude oil into value-added products, such as petrol and diesel, IOC said.

In addition to strengthening its refining, fuel retailing and petrochemicals business, IOC will focus on hydrogen and electric mobility over the next 10 years, Mr. Vaidya said.