New Delhi: State-owned power giant National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) is planning to add 10GW of solar energy generation capacity by 2022, which entails an investment of around Rs 50,000 crore, to be funded mainly by green bonds, a source said Tuesday.
At present, NTPC has installed renewable energy capacity of 920 MW, which includes mainly solar energy. It has formulated a long term plan to become a 130 GW company by 2032 with 30 per cent non-fossil fuel or renewable energy capacity.
“”The company will complete tendering of 2,300 MW of solar energy capacity by the end of this fiscal. Thereafter it has planned to add 4GW each in 2020-21 and 2021-22,” the source said.
“The company is open to any borrowing option in the market, which is economical. However, the company would mainly rely on green bonds which are offered for pure clean energy projects. The company wants to raise money through domestic green bonds,” the source added.
The NTPC’s plans to add 10GW solar energy capacity assumes significance in view of India’s ambitious target of having 175GW of clean energy by 2022.
The source also informed that the company would also set up some of its solar energy projects under scheme where it gets viability gap funding to keep the tariff below Rs 3 per unit level.
Besides, the company will also set up solar energy projects without any long term (for 25 years) power purchase agreements (PPA) as it intends to sell the electricity to industrial as well as commercial consumers and also at energy exchanges, the source added.
The sector regulator Central Electricity Regulatory Authority (CERC) has already approved the real time power market, which is expected to kick in by April 1, 2020.
In the real time power market, there would be 48 sessions of half-an- hour each in a day. This will allow consumers to get desired power supply within an hour of buying at the energy exchanges.
PTI