ONGC, BPCL turn to wind power

The Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (HPCL) are opting for renewable energy for captive electricity consumption. They intend to use wind farms to power their refineries and artificial lifts. BPCL is setting up a 5-megawatt wind energy farm in Karnataka, which will fuel its refinery in the state. The Centre for Wind Energy Technology (C-WET) has approved the Rs25-crores (US$5.51 million) establishment of BPCL. BPCL will also equip its outlets in Bangalore and Kolkata with solar panels. ONGC, which plans to begin production of wind electricity by early 2007, is setting up two 50-megawatt wind power stations in the coastal belt of Karnataka and Gujarat at a cost of Rs500 crores (US$110.25 million). (October 8, 2006)