Green is in: NTPC likely to enter electric vehicle sector

Enthused by India’s electric vehicle (EV) market potential, state-owned energy company NTPC Ltd is exploring a new business around it.

To start with, India’s largest power generation utility is look ing at setting up charging stations to help create the demand for electricity generated by its plants and keep pace with the fast changing power sector.

This comes in the backdrop of ambitious government plans for a mass scale shift to electric vehi cles by 2030 so that every vehicle on Indian roads by then—both personal and commercial—are those that are powered by elec tricity. India’s current installed capacity of 314,642 MW and pro jects under construction are expected to meet the country’s electricity demand till 2026. This is the trigger for the NTPC to scout for new growth areas NTPC’S thermal stations are reg istering a low plant load factor (PLF)—A measure of average capacity utilisation—due to muted demand.

“The interests of a lot of com panies in the public sector is aligned with the possibilities offered by India’s electric vehicle market. A case in point being NTPC Ltd, which has surplus power and is now looking at this market to set up charging sta tions. This offers a very strong complementary area for NTPC,” said a government official requesting anonymity.

Any shift to EVS will help cut pollutants and fuel imports.

An NTPC spokesperson in an emailed response confirmed its interest in the emerging electric vehicle sector, saying, “Electric vehicle charging infrastructure is set to be explored as an emerg ing requirement.” The state owned utility is working on a plan to bring down the cost of setting up these charging stations by half to around ₹1 lakh each.

The government wants to see 6 million electric and hybrid vehi cles on the roads by 2020 under the National Electric Mobility Mission Plan (NEMMP) 2020 and Faster Adoption and Manufac turing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles (FAME). Currently electric vehicle sales are low in India, rising 37.5% to 22,000 units in the year ended March 31 2016 from 16,000 in 2014-15, according to the Society of Manufacturers of