NTPC to produce 300 MW of solar power by 2014
31 Dec 2009
State-run National Thermal Power Corp Ltd (NTPC), India's largest power generator, said on Wednesday that it would invest about Rs3,000 crore in solar energy to add over 300 MW of generation capacity by March 2014. The government has an ambitious target of generating 1,300 MW of solar power by 2013 and 5,000 MW by 2022.
"The board of directors of NTPC has approved a roadmap to enter the solar power generation business for capacity addition of 301 MW by March 2014," the company informed the Bombay Stock Exchange. An investment of Rs10 crore is required to produce one MW of solar power, it added.
"Out of the 301 MW, 190 MW will be added through solar thermal technology and the balance 111 MW through solar PV (photo voltaic) technology, the announcement said.
The company has already taken up a 15 MW solar-based project at Anta in Rajasthan. The power generated from this station will be fed into the grid.
As its name implies, NTPC currently depends on coal-fired power plants for the bulk of its installed capacity of over 30,000 MW throughput.
NTPC also said it would spend Rs564 crore to modernise two units at its Badarpur thermal power station.
In a separate statement, NTPC also said its new coal-fired unit at Dadri in northern India started generating electricity on 25 December, helping ease power shortages in the national capital of New Delhi.
The new unit, which has a capacity of 490 MW, is the fifth at the company's plant at Dadri, about 40 km from the capital. It will supply power to New Delhi ahead of the Commonwealth Games next year, NTPC told the Bombay Stock Exchange.