India’s NTPC is planning to invite separate tenders to buy solar modules and construct solar parks through different contracts, Financial Express reported.
This is expected to reduce expenses as modules comprise about 80 percent of project costs and procuring them directly from manufacturers should help the company discover attractive rates.
The state-run NTPC will float tenders for about 1,000 MW of such two-part solar contracts, the first of many such upcoming tranches, in the next couple of months.
The report said NTPC will float one tender for solar modules and another bid for balance of system (construction).
NTPC, the largest thermal power producer in India, has more than 900 MW of solar and wind generation units in its portfolio. By 2030, NTPC plans to have a total power production capacity of 130,000 MW, out of which, solar would comprise 30,000 MW. Currently, the total installed capacity of the power behemoth stands at 57,356 MW.
NTPC owns green projects. In addition, NTPC acts as an aggregator of renewable energy and supplies power to states from solar and wind plants owned by other developers.
India’s ministry of new and renewable energy has identified NTPC as the nodal agency for setting up 20,000 MW solar and wind power capacity through this mode. Recently, the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) granted trading licence to the company to facilitate such transactions.
NTPC is planning to add 10GW of solar energy generation capacity by 2022, which entails an investment of around Rs 50,000 crore. It has formulated a long term plan to become a 130 GW company by 2032 with 30 percent renewable energy capacity.
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.