Ashok Leyland has announced that it has increased the sourcing of clean energy to 60 percent for its operations in India. Now 75 percent of its energy consumption in Tamil Nadu and 60 percent of it throughout India is procured through solar rooftop, solar ground mount and wind-based renewable energy.

Hinduja Renewables, part of the Hinduja Group, has built a solar plant in May 2020 for Ashok Leyland, with a capacity of 75 MWp in Sivagangai district, in Tamil Nadu. Set up through its subsidiary, Prathama Solarconnect Energy, the plant was commissioned in nine months and is expected to generate over 120 million units of power annually.

The solar panels are in a fixed-tilt mounting arrangement for peak energy production. Drones were used to relay back real-time information and progress. The company has implemented smart maintenance using data analytics. Preventive and predictive maintenance systems will ensure best in class capacity utilisation factor, during the plant’s entire lifecycle. 

Shom Hinduja, President, Alternative Energy & Sustainability Initiatives at Hinduja Group said, “This project will enable Ashok Leyland to significantly reduce its carbon footprint, thereby helping it achieve its sustainability goals. The Hinduja Group is evaluating its operations globally and has planned similar ESG initiatives across the different companies.”

Vipin Sondhi, MD & CEO, Ashok Leyland, said, “As we march towards our vision of being among the Top 10 Global CV Makers, it is equally important that we do this sustainably. Ensuring that our energy requirements come from renewables, is a critical part of this vision. With the start of operations of the Vepancolum Solar Plant, we have taken a massive leap in reducing our carbon footprint – of the total energy requirement, we will achieve renewable energy consumption of 75% in Tamil Nadu and 60% throughout India. Sourcing energy from this captive solar power plant will ensure abatement of 85000 tonnes of carbon emissions which is equal to planting 157487 trees, annually.”