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Exide embarked on the journey to In FY24, Exide invested Rs. working on onboarding key customers
set up the facility in 2021. The project 1,285-crore as equity investment into across sectors,” he added.
is progressing well and a team of more the project. “This brings the total
than 300 professionals were “actively” investment in EESL to Rs. 2,302-crore Internal projections indicate the
involved in overseeing various func- up to March 2024, inclusive of invest- demand for lithium-ion batteries to
tions, Mr. Roy told shareholders. The ments made in the erstwhile subsidiary near 150-GWh by 2030, Mr. Roy said.
lithium-ion cell manufacturing pro- Exide Energy Private Ltd.,” Mr. Roy About 70 percent of it was expected to
ject is housed under the wholly-owned said. “We are also working towards be driven by the mobility sector and
subsidiary, Exide Energy Solutions partnering local and global suppliers the remaining 30 percent from indus-
(EESL). for raw materials. And, we are also tries.
NUCLEAR ENERGY

NTPC seeks technology partners for Small Modular

Reactors
State-run NTPC is actively seek- land approvals will be subject to
ing technology partners, both do- review by the Atomic Energy Regula-
mestically and internationally, for its tory Board.
Small Modular Reactors (SMR) ini-
tiative, termed Bharat SMR (BSMR) Nuclear power project
as it ventures into the nuclear energy NTPC has also signed a joint venture
sector. In the recent Budget pro- agreement with Nuclear Power Corpora-
posals for FY25, Finance Minister tion of India Ltd. (NPCIL) to develop
Ms. Nirmala Sitharaman announced the with SMRs being a potential solution, a 2,800-MW nuclear power plant in
government’s intention to collaborate and is on the lookout for technology Mahi-Banswada, Rajasthan. With an
with the private sector for the deve- partners from both local and global estimated project cost of Rs. 51,000-crore,
lopment of SMRs. fi rms. Additionally, NTPC is evaluating construction is anticipated to begin by
land in Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Chhattis- the end of FY25, with a projected time-
NTPC is exploring nuclear energy garh, Odisha, and Karnataka for poten- line of approximately eight years for
to enhance its non-fossil fuel portfolio, tial nuclear power plant sites. The fi nal completion.

Govt. says no plan to mandate blending of ethanol

with diesel

The Government has said the issue of blending ethanol with diesel there would be a reduction of fl ash-
blending of ethanol with diesel is still is still at an experimental stage, and I point to 15 degrees Celsius with a 5
at an experimental stage, and there can say categorically that at present percent ethanol blend and we require
is no plan, at present, to mandate it, there is no plan to mandate”. material compatibility. Equally, fuel
as initial tests showed the formation stability and oxidation stability. There
of deposits in fuel tanks and other Elaborating further, the minister would be the formation of deposits
implications. said the reason is that oil marketing in the fuel tank and there are series
companies have tested up to 7 per- of other implications that follow,”
Replying to a supplementary ques- cent of ethanol in diesel in collabo- Mr. Puri informed.
tion in the Rajya Sabha on whether ration with the Automotive Research
the government plans to mandate the Association of India and select original The minister also shared that the
blending of ethanol with diesel, Mini- equipment manufacturers. blending of ethanol with petrol has
ster for Petroleum and Natural Gas now reached a level of up to 20 per-
Mr. Hardeep Singh Puri said, “The “The initial tests have shown that cent.

150 Chemical Weekly August 13, 2024 Chemical Weekly August 13, 2024 151

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