India's NTPC to Diversify Fuel Mix to Achieve Capacity Targets by 2017

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--India's largest power producer, NTPC Limited (BSE:532555) (New Delhi), will diversify its feedstock for power generation to include gas, hydro, renewable energy and nuclear--in addition to coal--to achieve a generation capacity of 75,000 megawatts (MW) by 2017.

According to the new targets, NTPC, predominantly a thermal power producer, will have a diversified fuel-mix portfolio through which it will produce 53,000 megawatts (MW) from coal; 10,000 MW from gas; 9,000 MW from hydro; 2,000 MW from nuclear; and 1,000 MW from renewable energy sources by the target date. This will entail a compounded average growth rate of 13%.

NTPC is currently India's largest power producer and has an installed capacity of 33,000 MW through 15 coal-fired power plants, seven gas-fired plants and five other gas and coal plants that it operates through joint ventures. The company has 17,000 MW of new capacity in various stages of construction.

NTPC is constructing two hydroelectric generation projects with a total capacity of 1,320 MW, including the 800-MW Koldam Hydroelectric Project in the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh and the 520-MW Tapoban Vishnugad project in the state of Uttarachanchal.

Senior officials of NTPC said that the company is seeking collaberation with global nuclear reactor manufacturers to set up light-water nuclear reactors. NTPC is involved in a joint venture with Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) (Mumbai) to construct a 1,000 MW indigenously built pressurized heavy water reactor at an estimated investment of $182 million. "We entered nuclear power generation in collaboration with NPCIL. But the finalization of the India-U.S. nuclear deal has opened up new opportunities for us, and we will invest in nuclear projects on our own. Collaboration agreements with global nuclear reactor manufacturers will be concluded shortly," NTPC officials said.

The Indian government has broadly approved reactor technologies for light water reactors from Westinghouse Electric Company's AP1000 series, GE-Hitachi's Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactors, Areva's 1,650-MW series and Russia's Atomstryexports WER reactor series.

In regard to generating electricity from renewable energy sources, NTPC has set a target of creating a 301-MW solar power capacity by 2013, in line with the Indian government's national solar power mission to add 1,300 MW of solar power capacity by the end of 2013. The company is finalizing grid connectivity for its 15-MW solar power project at its thermal power plant at Anta in Rajasthan. NTPV will also add a 25-MW solar power project at Singrauli, Uttar Pradesh, where it operates a thermal power plant. A 6-MW solar photovoltaic project is planned in the islands of Andaman and Nicobar.

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