Mining & Steel Company ArcelorMittal Plans $9 Billion Renewable Energy Investment In India
One of the world’s largest mining and steel manufacturing companies — ArcelorMittal — has announced grand plans to develop renewable energy assets in India.
According to media reports, ArcelorMittal has expressed interest in developing renewable energy projects in the Indian states of Rajasthan and Gujarat.
The company is believed to have proposed a 4.5-gigawatt solar park in Rajasthan with an estimated investment value of $2.6 billion. The news reports, however, did not mention the timeline for development of this project. In the recent past, Rajasthan has attracted investment in solar power park development from many private companies in India. These include Adani and IL&FS. These ventures have been highly successful with associated project auctions yielding some of the lowest tariff bids in India.
Rajasthan is a preferred choice for developers to set up projects due to the high solar irradiation available and availability of large non-agricultural areas. With large solar and wind power capacity already operational in the state, transmission infrastructure is also ready for use. The Indian government is also working to further strengthen the transmission network for future renewable energy projects under the Green Energy Corridor programme — a network of transmission projects dedicated for evacuation of renewable power across India.
An incentive offered by the Indian government to renewable energy projects makes Rajasthan an attractive destination for project development. Renewable energy projects selling power to distribution utilities are free to set up projects anywhere in the country without paying any transmission charges. The government recently extended this incentive to all solar and wind power projects commissioned by June 2025.
ArcelorMittal has also announced plans to invest in development of solar and wind energy and green hydrogen projects In the neighbouring state of Gujarat. News reports do not provide any capacity-related details, but the company may invest Rs 500 billion ($6.8 billion) in the state.
Gujarat has been a popular investment destination for the renewable energy sector. A number of solar modules manufacturers have set up shop in the state, including India’s largest cell and module manufacturer — Mundra Solar. More recently, Reliance Industries announced plans to invest $10 billion in the state to set up four gigawatt-scale manufacturing facilities for production of solar modules, batteries, electrolyzers, and fuel cells.
The Indian government, too, is planning to set up large-scale solar power parks in these two states. The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy is studying possibilities to set up 55 gigawatts of solar and wind power parks along the international border with Pakistan. Recently, the ministry approved a proposal by NTPC Limited, India’s largest power generation company, to set up a 4.7 gigawatt solar power park in Gujarat.
Rajasthan and Gujarat are among the only five states in India to have more than 10 gigawatts of operational renewable energy capacity — Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Maharashtra being the others. As of last month, Gujarat had 14.7 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity, while Rajasthan had 12.2 gigawatts. Gujarat had 5.7 gigawatts of solar power capacity, while Rajasthan had 7.7 gigawatts. These two states together account for 29% of India’s solar power capacity.
Rajasthan has set a target to have 30 gigawatts of solar power and 7.5 gigawatts of wind and hybrid power generation capacity by March 2025. Gujarat aims to have 30 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity operational by 2022.
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Saudi Aramco’s Ras Tanura oil refinery and oil terminal
Ahmed Jadallah | Reuters
Saudi state oil giant Aramco reported a 15.4% drop in net profit in the third-quarter on the back of “lower crude oil prices and weakening refining margins,” but maintained a 31.05 billion dividend.
The company reported net income of $27.56 billion in the July-September period, topping a company-provided estimate of $26.9 billion. The print is also a 5% drop from the previous quarter, which came in at $29.1 billion, as lower global oil prices, weaker demand and prolonged OPEC+ production cuts led by Saudi Arabia continue to impact crude prices.
The average selling price of oil for the second quarter of 2024 stood at $85 per barrel, but dropped to $78.7 per barrel during the third quarter, according to Saudi-based bank Al Rajhi capital, as non-OPEC supply volumes grew.
The oil firm said its year-on-year decline was partly offset by a “reduction in selling, administrative and general expenses primarily driven by a gain from derivative instruments, and a decrease in production royalties largely reflecting lower crude oil prices and a lower average effective royalty rate compared to the same quarter last year.”
Aramco’s dividend includes a base payout of $20.3 billion and an atypical performance-linked one of $10.8 billion. The Saudi government and the kingdom’s sovereign wealth vehicle, the Public Investment Fund, are the main beneficiaries of the dividend, holding stakes of roughly 81.5% and 16% in the company.
The remaining shareholding trades freely on Saudi Arabia’s Tadāwul stock exchange, with the company having finalized its second public share offering back in June.
Aramco’s earnings before Interest and Taxes (EBIT) came in at $51.45 billion in the third quarter, down 17% year-on-year. Aramco’s capital expenditure guidance was brought up 20% to $13.23 billion.
The company was trading at 27.45 riyals following the announcement, down 0.18% on the previous day.
The earnings align with a broader trend across oil majors, whose third-quarter profits have also suffered from declines in crude prices and refining margins. Aramco said it achieved average realized crude price of $79.3 per barrel in the third quarter, compared with $89.3 per barrel in the same period of last year.
Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest crude exporter who produces roughly 9 million barrels per day of crude at present, serves as the de facto leader of the OPEC+ oil producers’ alliance, a subset of whom agreed over the weekend to delay a planned December output hike by one month.
“Aramco delivered robust net income and generated strong free cash flow during the third quarter, despite a lower oil price environment,” CEO Amin Nasser said in a statement. “We also progressed our upstream developments, strengthened our downstream value chain, and advanced our new energies program as we continue to invest through cycles.”
The revenues will be a boon to the Saudi economy, which is currently undergoing a diversification process under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s legacy Vision 2030 scheme spanning a slew of high-cost infrastructure “gigaprojects.”
Earlier this year, Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Finance cut the kingdom’s growth forecast to 0.8% in 2024, in a steep decline from a previous projection of 4.4%, and raised the outlook for the national budgetary shortfall to roughly 2.9% of GDP, from a prior indication of 1.9%.
On today’s episode of Quick Charge, Tesla’s Cybertruck is now available in Canada – and, like in the US, there’s no waiting! Plus, we’ve got an “actually” smart summon Tesla that’s actually stuck, GM reaches a sales milestone, and we get a brand-new title sponsor!
Today’s episode is the first with our new title sponsor, BLUETTI – a leading provider of portable power stations, solar generators, and energy storage systems.
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Read more: Renewables now make up 30% of US utility-scale generating capacity
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![This 'supercharger on wheels' brings fast charging to you [update]](https://i0.wp.com/electrek.co/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/05/EV-mobile-charging-with-Yoshi-Mobility-3.jpg?resize=1200,628&quality=82&strip=all&ssl=1)
Mobile car care company Yoshi Mobility launched a DC fast charging EV mobile unit that it likens to “a supercharger on wheels.”
November 4, 2024 update: Yoshi Mobility will only be charging EVs on the side of the road now – it announced today that it’s selling its fleet fueling operation to EZFill Holdings (Nasdaq: EZFL).
It was originally founded as a direct-to-consumer, mobile fueling business in 2016, but now it’s going to focus on mobile EV charging, virtual vehicle inspections for partners like Uber and Turo, and onsite preventative maintenance.
Bryan Frist, Yoshi Mobility’s CEO & cofounder, said, “By spinning off our fuel business and focusing all of our energy on solving hair-on-fire problems that fleet owners face, we are meeting the changing needs of enterprise customers while making the future of transportation safer, cleaner, and more sustainable.”
May 22, 2024: Yoshi Mobility saw that its existing customers needed mobile EV charging in places where infrastructure has yet to be installed, so the Nashville-based company decided to bring the mountain to Moses.
“We recognized a demand among our customers for convenient daily charging, reliable private charging networks, and proper charging infrastructure to support their fleet vehicles as they transition to electric,” said Dan Hunter, Yoshi Mobility’s chief EV officer and cofounder.
The company says its 240 kW mobile DC fast charger, which can turn “any EV” into a mobile charging unit, is the first fully electric mobile charger available. It can provide multiple charges in a single trip but doesn’t detail how they charge the DC fast charger or who manufactured it. (I asked for more details, and they replied that they won’t disclose client names or the manufacturer of its DC fast charger yet.)
Yoshi is launching its mobile charger on two GM BrightDrop Zevo 600s and will introduce additional vehicles throughout 2024. It aims for full commercialization by Q1 2025. (I wonder if the Zevo 600 ever charges itself? Yes, I asked that too.)
Yoshi Mobility says it’s already deployed its EV charging solutions to service “major OEMs, autonomous vehicle companies, and rideshare operators” across the US. Its initial customers are made up of large EV operators managing “hundreds” of light-duty vehicles requiring up to 1 megawatt of energy per day that don’t yet have grid-connected EV chargers. I’ve asked Yoshi for details of who it’s working with, and will update if they share that info.
The company says pricing is based on location and enterprise charging needs. Once under contract for service, the service will be deployed to US-based customers within 10 days.
To date, Yoshi Mobility has raised more than $60 million, with investments from GM Ventures, Bridgestone, ExxonMobil, and Y-Combinator in Silicon Valley.
Read more: Mercedes-Benz just opened more DC fast chargers at Buc-ee’s in Texas
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