Shifting energy sources
Credit: hrui, stock.adobe.com
Renewables have been getting some press of late and have continued to build, despite what some out of touch politicians would have you believe. For example, Bloomberg News reports the world installed 599 gigawatts of solar panels last year, up by about a third from 2023. Generating power only 15 per cent of the time, those panels should produce about 787 TWh of electricity — equivalent to the output of one-third of the world’s nuclear reactors. Add that to the roughly 344 TWh of wind that was connected last year, and the incremental amount of wind and solar added in 2024 alone was equivalent to about 6.2 per cent of all the fossil-fired electricity on the planet.
Clean energy is changing the picture — and China, which produces three-quarters of the world’s solar panels, is emerging as the clear winner, Bloomberg notes. They are busy selling such items to where the tariffs are not, which is the global south group of countries. These countries include Brazil, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and of course, India.
FMCG is not missing out. Unilever, the consumer goods giant, is working in India in a new partnership with developer Brookfield, which will see electricity from the 45 megawatts (MW) off-site solar project in Rajasthan reach a total of 32 sites across 15 states. Unilever and the ten collaborative manufacturers expect to generate cost savings of approximately 25 per cent over the 20-year period, compared to the cost of grid electricity.
“With this single contract, we’re aiming to meet nearly a quarter of Unilever’s own operational electricity demand in India with renewables,” says Yogesh Mishra, executive director, supply chain for HUL (Hindustan Unilever Limited) & Nepal. “Once the project is live, we have the option of expanding it by a further 20MW to include other suppliers beyond manufacturing, for example those across raw materials and packaging.”
This move will also help the smaller manufacturers that supply Unilever, but which can’t get these energy deals by themselves. This is the first time a PPA in India has covered so much ground and it required securing approvals from the Government of India, distribution companies and state governments. But it is the first initiative of its kind across the FMCG industry in India, and it paves the way for other companies to follow.
I suspect 2025 will be another banner year for renewables. Politicians come and go, but the warming planet and the need for another way to generate electricity will trump dinosaur viewpoints, every time.
- Suzanne Christiansen, editor, Dairy Industries International.
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