The National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) is planning to build more coal plants this year to boost output, reported Bloomberg. The government-run firm is like to award construction orders for about 4.5 gigawatts of coal-fired capacity during the fiscal year, the report said.
Citing an official aware of the plans, it said, the projects will be built across three sites where the utility already runs power plants.
NTPC expects to place orders for the construction of 1.6 gigawatts of coal power plants each at Lara and Singrauli, as well as a 1.32 gigawatts plant at Meja, Uttar Pradesh in FY24, the official said, adding that the company aims to boost output from its own mines to 34 million tons this fiscal year, a 48 per cent increase from the previous year.
NTPC is India’s largest electricity producer. After a year-long halt, the company began building coal plants last year. NTPC is also India’s largest coal user.
NTPC, last week, reported that its captive coal mines have registered 65 per cent year-on-year production growth to over 23 million tonnes in FY23. It has four operational coal mines—TPC Pakri-Barwadih (Jharkhand), NTPC Chatti Bariatu (Jharkhand), (Odisha), and NTPC Talaipalli (Chhattisgarh).
The achievement demonstrates NTPC’s commitment to increasing its domestic coal production to meet the growing demand for power in the country, NTPC said.
The Bloomberg report says that NTPC adding new coal plants shows India’s dependency on fuel to meet its growing energy needs.
“The projects underscore how even as India sets ambitious long-term decarbonization targets, in the near term it will continue to rely on the dirtiest fossil fuel to meet rapidly growing power demand. A warming planet and increased penetration of air conditioners are causing power consumption to climb to new records in the country,” the report said.
However, it added that NTPC also adding of more carbon-free energy in its capacity. The official said that the company is currently proposing a green hydrogen hub with renewable energy, electrolyzer manufacturing, and green hydrogen and ammonia production at Pudimadaka, Andhra Pradesh that was formerly intended to house a 4-gigawatt coal power plant.
The company also intends to go public with its clean energy division, NTPC Green Energy Ltd.