NEW DELHI: NTPC will substitute thermal power that it had committed to supply to it’s consumers with cheaper renewable power after the Ministry of Power tweaked norms to allow the same.
“Under the revised norms issued by the Ministry of Power earlier this month, if NTPC wants, it can now replace coal-based power, committed to a power distribution company (Discom), with power generated through cheaper renewable energy sources. We have called for bids from renewable energy companies, both wind and solar to offer 2000 MW of power to us that we can use for the substitution,” a top NTPC official said.
“All new and existing renewable energy plants without power purchase agreements will be allowed to participate in the bids. We will initially sign PPAs for 25 years with the winners,” he added.
The financial gains that will be accrued from supplying cheaper power will be split evenly between the Discom and NTPC at the end of the financial year. The terms of the power purchase agreements will have to be tweaked to enable this.
“This arrangement will come in handy wherever the cost of generation is on the higher side due to coal costs. Power generated from plants away from coal production sites will be mixed with renewable energy as the fuel costs,” the official explained.
A company statement said that power generation by the NTPC group has grown 6 per cent during 2017-2018, compared to 2016-2017. In value terms, NTPC Group’s generation during 2017-2018 stood at 294 billion units. Coal consumption by the NTPC Group stood at 184 million tonnes and the group achieved the highest ever daily generation at 910.38 million units on March 28.
The group’s total installed capacity stood at 53,651 MW and it targets to add another 5,000 MW during 2018 – 2019. The total capacity under construction is 21,071 MW, the statement added.
Source: thehindubusinessline
