India’s Top Utility Plans $9.6 Billion Renewables and Coal Expansion

India’s state power giant NTPC Ltd, the largest power generator in the country, plans to boost its green energy projects with green hydrogen and renewable power capacity, but it’s also investing in new coal-fired electricity.

NTPC said on Tuesday that its unit NTPC Green Energy Limited (NGEL) had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the government of the state of Maharashtra to develop green hydrogen, green ammonia, and green methanol of up to 1 million ton capacity per year, pumped hydro projects of 2 gigawatts (GW), and renewables projects with or without storage up to 5 GW in the state.    

These projects are part of Maharashtra state’s ‘Green Investment Plan’ over the next five years and envisage a potential investment of the equivalent of $9.6 billion, NTPC said.

India’s largest utility said it was on track to build up renewable energy capacity of 60 GW by 2032.  

But at the same time, NTPC is also pursuing new coal-fired capacity and plans 16.8 GW of new coal plants in the country in the next three years, the company’s Finance Director Jaikumar Srinivasan told reporters on an earnings call Tuesday, as carried by Bloomberg.

The new coal fleet will add to 10 GW of coal plants already under construction and will boost NTPC’s coal capacity by around 45% from its current installed coal capacity.

The coal and renewables energy plans of India’s biggest utility underscore the country’s dilemma in looking to reduce emissions and at the same time, meet growing power demand and peak loads.

Coal still generates around 70% of India’s electricity.

Last month, the country’s power minister said that India would raise the size of its thermal power fleet to meet an increased demand for electricity.

India said it would add another 88 GW of new power capacity by early 2032—63% more than India’s plan that it published just seven months ago. And most of that will be coal-fired power, with gas-fired electricity generation unavailable to India due to the high cost of natural gas.  

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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