P&G commissions first in-house solar plant in India

Hyderabad, April 22
Procter & Gamble's manufacturing site in Hyderabad became its first site in India to house a solar plant.

This is P&G's only the fifth manufacturing site globally to commission in-house solar plant. Spread over 16,000 square meters and comprising nearly 3,000 panels, the in-house solar plant has a capacity of one Megawatt clean energy production and will reduce the company's carbon footprint by an estimated 1,030 tonnes annually.

According to Sachin Sharma, Plant Head, Hyderabad manufacturing site, P&G India, environmental sustainability is core to the company operations.

"Increasing our use of renewable electricity and improving energy efficiencies is a critical part of our sustainability journey. Therefore, we are taking a more deliberate approach to develop and adopt more efficient ways to operate. By commissioning our new in-house solar plant, we are making strides to advance progress against these goals."

He pointed out that all sites of Procter & Gamble in India are zero manufacturing waste to landfill. In 2020, the company achieved 100 per cent recycling of multi-layered plastic waste.

"We are committed to reducing our footprint and are striving for more circular approaches in our supply chain. We are building partnerships with external organisations, in India, like Circulate Capital, Alliance to End Plastic Waste, and waste management organisations to find sustainable business solutions," he said.

In 2019, P&G announced vGROWEnvironmental Sustainability Fund of Rs 200 crore to invest in sustainable solutions with partners and suppliers.

The Hyderabad site is P&G's largest manufacturing plant in India focused on producing its fabric care brands Ariel and Tide, personal care brand Gillette and baby care brand Pampers.

P&G says as the focus on clean energy has been a key action area for the Telangana government, the company is taking a more deliberate approach to develop and adopt more efficient ways to operate.

According to a recent report by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Telangana has exceeded renewable energy target.

The installed capacity in 2017 in Telangana was 1,286.98 MW and it touched 3,291.25 MW in 2018, moved up to 3,592.09 MW in 2019 and then 3,620.75 MW in 2020.

Meanwhile, Hyderabad-based Freyr Energy has announced an equity investment of Rs 18 crore from Total Carbon Neutrality Ventures, Schneider Electric Energy Access Asia and C4D Partners.

Freyr Energy is one of India's leading solar rooftop companies that is using technology to change the way homeowners and MSME's transition to solar.

The company, which had raised Rs 27 crore in 2018, has so far installed about 30 MW of rooftop solar systems in over 1,700 installations across 22 states in India.