Indian public sector company National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) is planning a foray into solar equipment manufacture.
The development, Livemint reports, would take the state-owned power producer to mark its presence in the “green energy value chain”.
Initially NTPC will plans to build a solar module manufacturing plant with capacity to roll out 1 gigawatt per annum. The project would require investment of Rs 5,000 crore.
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Such a project is expected to help NTPC install capacity of 10 gigawatts it has plans for and in the upkeep of 15 gigawatts of projects it proposes to buy from developers on behalf of the ministry of new and renewable energy.
An NTPC executive has told Livemint that the opportunity was being evaluated and that the company was looking at presence in the value chain right from production of polysilicon to solar panels.
The company is counting on the availability of silicon and quartz in eastern India to develop such a project.
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Several companies, both international and domestic, have shown interest in developing solar equipment manufacturing facilities in India, particularly since the country spelt out its clean energy target of 175 gigawatts by 2022.
US-based SunEdison has plans to build such a facility in a joint venture with Adani Enterprises with an investment of about $4 billion.
First Solar, another US company, and Trina Solar of China are also among companies looking to set up manufacturing facilities in India.
According to an estimate, India needs as much as Rs12.75 trillion ($200 billion) to meet its target to install 100GW of solar power and 60 gigawatt of wind power by 2022.
However, advances in the production of solar equipment can substantially reduce costs. Currently the installation of 1 megawatt capacity of solar panels takes an investment of Rs6 crore. It comes down to about Rs4.5 crore in large scale projects owing to the economics of scale.
With development of local production and availability, it is more likely that solar project development will become greatly more economical.
Ajith Kumar S