With advancement of solar energy, many of the residential colonies in ONGC have solar water heaters and solar powered street lights. Unmanned platforms in offshore areas also use solar energy for navigation lights and telemetry units. For harnessing alternate sources of energy, ONGC took structured initiatives adding to the scope of solar energy in India.

• 1 MW solar photo voltaic power plant was commissioned on 18 October 2015 at Base complex, Rajahmundry Asset at a cost of Rs 7.8 Crore.
• 125 KW ground mounted solar PV plant is in operation in Uran Plant.
• 11 Nos. of Grid Connected Roof Top solar power plants with total capacity of 647 KW are in operation in various office buildings in ONGC.
• 6 Nos of OFF-Grid connected Roof Top solar plants with total capacity of 49 KW are in operation in various office buildings in ONGC.
• 10 MW ground mounted solar power plant is under execution at Hazira Plant. The solar plant costing Rs. 47.1 Crore is expected to be commissioned during FY 2017-18.

New products and expansion in capacity have lowered the costs for solar power over the last 5 years. At the current pace of cost reduction, solar power will be comparable to power from conventional sources in 10 to 15 years. However, non-adequate policy support and delay in reaching grid parity cost could delay solar capacity build, limiting installed capacity to around 30 GW by 2030. Given the long-term potential of solar energy in India, ONGC will look to seed options in emerging solar technologies to position for long-term growth.

ONGC will evaluate specific technology options and subsequently buy/partner for appropriate technology. Given the uncertain nature of the solar market (expectations on thin-film market growth have become more conservative within 2 years), ONGC will cautiously pursue these investments ensuring appropriate due diligence. Assuming that India is expected to reach grid parity in another 10 to 15 years, ONGC will build capabilities to succeed as a solar developer in the short to medium term, and look to grow rapidly as a developer to target around 1.5 GW solar energy capacity by 2030.

The Government has up-scaled the target of renewable energy capacity to 175 GW by the year 2022. The incentive for Roof top solar Projects of ONGC in Uttrakhand, Assam and Tripura will be 60% of benchmark cost or cost arrived through competitive bidding. Similarly, Roof Top Projects in Gujarat will be getting an incentive to the tune of 25% of benchmark/awarded cost.The Roof Top Solar Project, which is being implemented at various locations of ONGC in Gujarat at Ankleshwar, Mehsana, Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Dahej will not only feed green energy to the installations and buildings of ONGC, but also help ONGC in reducing energy bills.