NTPC floats tender for 10,000 MW solar power project

NTPC Limited has opened tenders for a solar power renewable energy with a capacity of 10,000 MW, while fixing the target to be achieved till 2025 at 25,000 MW.

D K Sood, Regional Executive Director of DBF (Dadri, Badarpur and Faridabad), NTPC Limited on Monday, meanwhile, spoke about the price gap between thermal power and solar power tariff rates. The average rate of power generated by coal-based projects of NTPC — India's largest state-owned generation utility — is Rs 3.20 per unit. However, private solar power provider Amplus Energy Solutions recently bid to produce solar energy at Rs 2.97 per unit, the lowest ever, at its plant in Rewa Madhya Pradesh.

Sood said that NTPC is mulling large-scale installation of solar panels in Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, where several acres of land are available for such projects.

Presently, NTPC has three solar power plants, of 5 MW capacity each, in Dadri, Faridabad and Badarpur.

"A 5 MW solar power plant was set up under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission on 20 acre near Ash Mound (Eco Park) in Dadri. Solar panels made up of polycrystalline material are being used. The estimated cost of this project is approximately Rs 48.6 crore," said Sood.