“Kutch region in Gujarat, the largest salt desert in the country and host to two of India’s largest coal-fired power plants, will now add another feather to its cap.
The country’s largest power generator, NTPC, through its renewable energyarm, will construct what would be India’s largest single local solar power park of 4.75 Gigawatt (Gw) in Kutch. NTPCRenewable Energy(NTPC-REL) has received the approval of the nodal ministry of new and renewable energy, said a company’s statement.
NTPC-REL was given the go-ahead under Mode 8 (Ultra Mega Renewable EnergyPower Park) of Solar Park Scheme, the company said in a release. “As part of its green energy portfolio augmentation, NTPC, India’s largest energy integrated company, aims to build 60 GW Renewable Energy Capacity by 2032,” it said. There are five operational solar power parks in the country, of which Bhadla in Rajasthan (2.2 Gw) and Pavgada in Karnataka (2.05 Gw) are among the world’s largest single location solar plants. India’s first solar power park of 0.75 Gw was fully commissioned in 2019 in Rewa district of Madhya Pradesh.
The current total installed generation capacity of NTPCstands at 66 Gw. Out of this, thermal (coal+gas) is 61 Gw, hydro 3.7 Gw, solar is 1 Gw and the balance is wind. NTPCincorporated a wholly-owned subsidiary for its renewable energy projects in October 2020, which Gurdeep Singh, chairman and managing director of the company, said would be listed soon.
“We should not focus on one way of raising funds. We want to soon go public for raising funds,” he said, adding the company would add 7-8 GW renewable every year. Apart from solar and wind power projects, NTPC is looking to invest in green hydrogen and green methanol – cleaner fuels that are manufactured at units powered by renewable energy.
The ministry announced a solar power park scheme in 2014-15 when it targeted 20 Gw of capacity under solar parks/ultra mega solar power projectsby 2020. The target year was increased this year to another five years….”
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