â??New Delhi, Feb 28 : Government-owned natural gas giant GAIL (India) Ltd has announced an investment of Rs 1,736.25 crore to set up a wind power project in Maharashtra, which will help expand its renewable energy portfolio, as the company aims for net-zero carbon emissions by 2035.â??

GAIL informed the stock exchanges on Friday that it has approved an investment to build 178.2 megawatts of wind power capacity.â??

The project, to be completed within 24 months from the date of contract award, will add to the existing portfolio of 117.95 MW. GAIL also has 27 MW of solar energy projects spread across Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. â??

Its wind power projects are located in Gujarat (19.2 MW), Karnataka (38.1 MW) and Tamil Nadu (60.65 MW).â??

GAIL has set a target to achieve net zero by reducing Scope-1 and Scope-2 (carbon) emissions by 2035 and Scope-3 emissions by 2040. The public sector company plans to increase its renewable energy capacity up to 3.4 GW by the year 2035 to achieve the net zero targets," according to the company's website.â??

Meanwhile, the groundbreaking ceremony for the upcoming GAIL R&D Centre in Industrial Model Township (IMT) at Sohna, Haryana, was done on Thursday by Sandeep Kumar Gupta, the companyâ??s Chairman & Managing Director.â??

The new R&D Centre is envisioned as a state-of-the-art, future-ready innovation hub that will strengthen GAILâ??s technological capabilities across its core business and emerging clean energy domains. â??

Spread over 30 acres, the Centre will feature world-class laboratory infrastructure and advanced pilot-scale facilities to bridge the gap between laboratory research and field deployment. â??

The facility, spread over 85,000 square meters, will house seven major research verticals, including Natural Gas Pipeline Integrity & Asset Management, Natural Gas Applications & NG/COâ?? Valorisation, Petrochemicals & Polymers, Renewables, Biotechnology, Nanotechnology and Advanced Analytical Sciences.â??

In addition, the Centre will be equipped with sophisticated pilot facilities, including closed-loop pipeline testing systems, linear pull-through rigs, and pilot reactors for polymer development and natural gas/COâ?? valorisation. â??

These facilities will enable validation of new processes, materials, pipeline technologies, and sustainable energy solutions under industry-relevant conditions.â??

/IANS