Aluminium – A key contributor to India’s electrification journey

For India to realize its vision of achieving the 5 trillion dollar-mark as an economy, green, robust and affordable energy is of quintessential importance. With a steeply increasing slope of population, wages and living standards, India, as per the IEA, stands third in energy consumption in the world. Especially in the post-pandemic phase, India’s return to normalcy is certain to be a prolific journey in terms of its energy-based capacity-building technologies. Sustainable power production (reduction in carbon footprint of thermal power generation), increasing production of renewables, ubiquitous energy accessibility, transmission & distribution infrastructure, and systematized quality control mechanisms will play a crucial role in this journey.

Aluminium is the metal of the future especially for the power sector, for it boasts of high strength while being lighter in weight, excellence thermal and electrical conductivity, high ductility and malleability, and exceptional design flexibility. These properties make aluminium the choice of metal in applications like cables, transmission lines, motors, capacitors, heating elements and others. In fact, aluminium wire rods are the primary choice for long-distance transmission lines. India is second only to China in the consumption of aluminium wire rods, with Vedanta Aluminium as the global leader of aluminium wire rod production (ex-China). In India, average per capita consumption of aluminium in electrical industry if roughly 1 kg compared to the world average of 1.5 kgs.

The combined effect of increasing population, rapid rural-to-urban transformation and growth in the number and types of industries will underpin India’s position as a key player in the world’s energy arena. This will see a significant growth in aluminium production by some of the world’s best aluminium producers like Vedanta Aluminium, given aluminium’s critical usage in the electrical and allied sectors. With increasing consumer spends/investments in electronics, white goods and electric vehicles, aluminium consumption in these segments, including the infrastructure needed to manufacture these, will grow. For example, the present and future potential of the EV sector, its increasing affordability and policy push for its rapid adoption will lead to a significant increase in the demand for electricity and related infrastructure.

Added to this are India’s rural electrification targets that require an investment of over 2 billion US dollars and the country’s envisioned expansion in power network from renewable sources to double the present capacity by the end of this decade. This demand will be further propelled by projects like 100 Smart Cities, 100% electrification of railways, Integrated Cross-Border Grid Network, etc. which will see ramp up in production by best aluminium producers like Vedanta Aluminium.

Aluminium has several design benefits due to the intrinsic properties of the metal. Very high conductivity and flexibility along with extreme light weight and non-corrosiveness to natural elements make it the perfect candidate for usage in transmission lines as the desirable sag-resistance can be achieved for proper long-distance distribution of power. This reduced sag leads to greater inter-span distances and consequently, lower construction costs. High ductility and non-corrosiveness ensure greater durability and lower maintenance costs. Compared to Copper, Aluminium has negligible cost implications for the same capabilities and characteristics.

Vedanta Aluminium, one of the global leaders in aluminium, is a major manufacturer of wire rods of a special grade that have superior strength and high resistance to sagging. These rods are produced from almost 100% pure primary aluminium and have a significant lifespan. Products of such a high quality and conductivity are apt for a wide variety of uses in the power sector, making Vedanta Aluminium a preferred supplier to the electrical industry. Vedanta Aluminium is not only the largest producer of aluminium in India, but it single-handedly produces more than half of India’s aluminium (2.26 million tonnes in FY22).

Sustainability and technology are the pillars of working at Vedanta Aluminium. We focus heavily on value addition and on producing nothing less than the best in its class. The requirements in the power sector have consistently been and continue to be met with the high-quality products manufactured by one of the India’s best aluminium producer, Vedanta Aluminium, using the world’s leading technologies while also implementing the concept of Make-in-India.

At Vedanta Aluminium, we harness the combined capabilities of our engineering-par-excellence, cutting-edge R&D, dynamic Innovation Cell, Centre of Excellence and outstanding Customer Service focus to cater to the ever-evolving and growing domestic and global needs and demands. Moreover, as India’s largest producer of aluminium, we have been developing customized products for the power sector as per the specific requirements, for example, due to different weather conditions and are also working on developing premium-grade products for the electrical industry.