New Delhi, Aug 7 (IANS): Vedanta Aluminium Business, Indias largest producer of aluminium and value-added products, has bagged three ‘Gold Awards at the SEEM National Energy Management Awards (SNEMA) 2020 for excellence in energy management at its Aluminium Smelters I and II and the 1,215 MW captive power plant at Jharsuguda in Odisha.

Vedanta Jharsuguda's 1,215 MW captive power plant and 2,400 MW thermal power plant have also won at the Thermal Power Plant Operation & Maintenance Conference and Awards 2021 for overall operational excellence.

Speaking about Vedanta's energy stewardship, Rahul Sharma, CEO, Vedanta Aluminium Business, said, "As India's largest producer of aluminium, a 100 per cent recyclable metal, we are cognizant of our responsibilities towards sustainable development and climate action. We are working towards it through a three-pronged strategy of ensuring judicious resource usage, energy-efficient operations, and renewable energy sourcing.

"We have adopted global best-practises in energy and resource management, and deployed cutting-edge solutions to reduce our carbon footprint. We are also exploring viable options of renewable energy sourcing for producing aluminium, the green metal".

Energy management is at the heart of Vedanta Aluminium's climate action roadmap, and finds realisation through dedicated efforts towards attaining highest operational efficiency of assets and processes.

In agreement with the recommendations made by the Task Force on Climate related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and guided by the Vedanta Group's Carbon Forum, Vedanta Aluminium is working towards executing its carbon management practices as per the TCFD framework.

These include impactful initiatives for optimisation of specific energy consumption in production processes and a long-term focus on migrating to low carbon energy mix.

Appreciating Vedanta Aluminium's focus on energy management, Krishnakumar Ramanathan, Vice President and Country Business Head (Large Drives Applications), Siemens Limited, said, "Siemens has been associated with Vedanta Aluminium for integrated plant maintenance of its smelter units at Jharsuguda for well over a decade.

"With its engineering and domain expertise, the Siemens team has been contributing to Vedanta's efforts towards reducing energy consumption in all areas of operations. We are happy to be a value-added service provider to Vedanta, playing a crucial part in this successful journey of energy optimization for sustainable and world-class smelter operations."

Vedanta's alumina refinery, aluminium smelters and power plants have been forerunners in the realm of energy management among the Indian manufacturing sectors. Few notable initiatives and highlights:

* Vedanta Aluminium was India's largest green power purchaser in Q1FY22, having procured 354 million units of solar and non-solar renewable energy for its aluminium smelter at Jharsuguda.

* Vedanta Aluminium has significantly reduced its GHG emission intensity by 21 per cent with 2012 as baseline, and aims to reduce it by 24 per cent in 2025 over the same baseline.

* Reduction in indirect energy consumption of 2 million Giga Joules (GJ) between FY20 and FY21 at Vedanta Aluminium's captive assets.

* Climate action initiatives across all Business Units have resulted in energy conservation of 1.4 million GJ and GHG savings of 0.32 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e) in FY 20-21.

* Vedanta's aluminium smelter at Jharsuguda is India's first, and the world's third smelter to deploy Digital Smelter Solution, which uses digital twin technology, predictive and prescriptive analytics to enhance energy efficiency.

* The Jharsuguda smelter is also the first aluminium smelter in Asia to receive ISO 50001 certificate for Energy Management System since 2013.

* Bharat Aluminium Company (BALCO), Vedanta's subsidiary at Chhattisgarh, achieved lowest specific power consumption in its Potline-I in 2020, setting a benchmark among Aluminium Smelters in India and the Gulf countries. A potline is a long building, or collection of buildings, located in a smelter and contains a series of ‘pots', or large. electrolytic cells, in which aluminium smelting is carried out.

* Vedanta's ‘Carbon Forum' is actively working on guiding implementation of the company's carbon mitigation approach.

Vedanta Aluminium Business in Odisha & Chhattisgarh, a division of Vedanta Limited, is India's largest manufacturer of aluminium, producing half of India's aluminium, i.e., 1.96 million tonnes in FY21.

It is a leader in value-added aluminium products that find critical applications in the core industries. With its world-class aluminium smelters, aluminium refinery and power plants in India, the company fulfils its mission of spurring emerging applications of aluminium as the ‘Metal of the Future' for a greener tomorrow.