Chennai: India’s copper imports, which have gone up from $2.2 billion in FY21 to $2.9 billion in FY22, will see a sharp jump as the country transitions to electric mobility and renewable power. India, which became import dependent on copper just over three years ago, will need to rapidly ramp up domestic capacity in tune with its green roadmap, said analysts and sector experts.
The average battery electric vehicle requires 83 kg of copper and over 3,000 kg of copper is required for generating just one MW of power via the solar photovoltaic & onshore wind platforms. Power generation via offshore wind is even more copper intensive requiring over 8,000 kg of copper per MW.
Take auto sector which alone will see its chunk of copper demand more than double in the next 8 years. “Copper is a key component for an electric vehicle and rising EV penetration will lead to a pickup in demand for copper from the auto segment which currently accounts for close to 10% of India’s overall copper demand of around 1.1 million tonne per annum.
