India’s largest power producer, NTPC, has been setting-up more solar plants to attain its long-term renewable energy capacity addition goal of 60 gigawatts (GW) by 2032.
The latest development comes with the commissioning of the first part of the Shambu ki Burj-2 solar PV project at Bikaner, Rajasthan. The project has a total capacity of 300 MW of which 150 MW has been brought under commercial operation.
Earlier, the company had commissioned plants at Auraiya, Gandhar, Kawas, Fatehgarh, Ramagundem and Kayamkulam in the ongoing fiscal, thus augmenting its solar footprint.
Currently, the renewable capacity (excluding large hydro-stations) of NTPC stands at 2,524 MW, of which solar plants account for 2,329 MW. Meanwhile, total power generating capacity of the company is 70,234 MW.
Expansion plans
In order to bolster its green energy portfolio, the company has started work at the country’s largest renewable park (4.75 GW) at Gujarat. Besides, it has also signed an MoU with the Government of Rajasthan for allocation of land parcels for setting up aggregate renewable capacity of 10 GW.
That apart, several renewable energy projects are in the tendering process.
However, despite the thrust on cleaner energy through renewables, coal-based projects currently dominate NTPC’s expansion plans.
In its annual report, the company has highlighted that capacity under construction as of March comprises 9,980 MW of coal, followed by 3,440 MW of renewables and the rest 2,255 MW of large hydro stations.
Coal-based power plants have been the backbone of the Indian power sector as they account for half of the total installed capacity. Nevertheless, development of coal plants has been slow this year at a time the country witnessed unprecedented rise in power demand.
Notably, installed capacity of renewables grew from 109.9 GW at the beginning of FY23 to 116.1 GW at the end of August. In the same period, no coal plant was added.
Leave a Reply