National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), a state-owned conventional energy company in India, is set to purchase 15,000 megawatts of power from solar energy developers. NTPC will sell the power purchased to states.
The company has stated that it will be inviting bids for the purpose under a reverse bidding process on behalf of the ministry of new and renewable energy (MNRE).
The tariffs bid for are to be dollar-denominated and hedging risks will be shared. The move is “expected to reduce the solar power tariff from around Rs 6.7 ($0.12) per unit at present to about Rs 4.37 ($0.06) per unit, as the solar developers would be freed of foreign exchange risk”, Livemint has reported.
Another benefit for solar developers would be that NTPC will provide them with power purchase guarantees. It would make the projects bankable and in due course bring costs of power from the plants on par with the grid supply.
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Further, NTPC plans to bundle 3,000 MW of the solar power procured with 1,500 MW of unallocated power to reduce tariffs.
On its own, the energy company has plans to set up 10,000 MW of solar power capacity.
It currently has an installed capacity of 44,598 MW of renewable energy and is working toward increasing the contribution of clean energy to 28 percent of its planned capacity of 128,000 MW by 2032.
The company also proposes to raise $500 million shortly from the sale of global rupee and green bonds.
Ajith Kumar S
editor@greentechlead.com