Radisson explores group captive solar for greening operations    

After successfully operationalising its first group captive solar agreement for its Nashik property, which helped in saving power bills, the Radisson Hotel Group is exploring options on expanding group captive solar for greening its operations in India.  

Radisson Blu Nashik secured a 1.5 MW contracted load in 2023, resulting in exemptions from cross-subsidy charges and additional surcharges. This translates to potential savings of 51% on annual electricity bills, with a return on investment expected within 6-8 months.

Calling it a pioneering work in the hotel sector, Inge Huijbrechts, Global Chief Sustainability Security Senior Executive, Radisson Hotel Group, says under a group captive scheme, a solar/wind farm is developed for the collective use of multiple commercial consumers.

“It’s pioneering because usually it’s not done for these volumes. It’s not done in hotels and we managed to bring a developer to the table that did so. This is typically now an example that we bring to other owners to see how they can also benefit,” says Huijbrechts.  

She further explains that group captive is not yet possible at lower volumes in every state due to regulatory constraints and they are tracking their business partners very closely to see where they can advise them to go in this direction.

“You can for example do on-site solar, but what most people don’t know is that hotels have very little roof space available. It’s rare that the resorts, typically have quite some roof space, but if you look at a city hotel, the roof is very much occupied by air handling units, and other technical systems. So even when you do on-site solar, it’s only going to account for 2-3% typically in a business hotel than the city,” she adds.

To qualify as captive, the consuming entity (or entities) must consume at least 51% of the power generated and hold at least 26% equity in the power plant. Captive generation offers a more economical electricity rate compared to industrial tariffs, which are often higher.

According to Huijbrechts, India has a very well-developed renewable energy regulatory framework, and a market and green energy transition plan was outlined for 22 key markets together with Accenture.