Two Renewable Public Sector Companies to Be Set Up

To contribute to India's energy security and reducing reliance on conventional sources of fuel such as coal, there are plans to form two state-owned joint ventures that will oversee the construction of renewable energy projects, The oil and renewable energy ministries are working on the proposal, which sees them setting up one JV to oversee large-scale, grid-integrated projects and the other for off-grid projects.

These new public sector units (PSUs) will be JVs between state-owned oil sector firms such as Indian Oil Corp. Ltd (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd, Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd, Oil and Natural Gas Corp. Ltd (ONGC), Oil India Ltd and Solar Energy Corp. of India and the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA).

One of the JVs will be led by ONGC and either will be led by IOC. The initial funding for the new firms will come from the JV partners that will implement the projects.

The money they put in such projects will be considered part of their corporate social responsibility (CSR) contributions. Corporate entities are supposed to spend a certain percentage of their profit on CSR, essentially charitable activity.