‘NTPC is also a commercial entity that has to survive’

NEW DELHI: At 43,128 mega watt (MW) capacity, NTPC Ltd — formerly known as the National Thermal Power Corporation — is India’s largest power generation company. While the company’s present portfolio is dominated by coal-based power generation, the company has also drawn plans to add solar power capacity in a big way. NTPC’s chairman and managing director, Arup Roy Choudhury, spoke to HT about the company’s vision going forward as regard its capacity addition and growth plans. Excerpts: What have been NTPC’s big achievements in recent years? We have to look at NTPC not just as a central generator for the country but also as a commercial entity that has to survive and compete. The biggest achievement has been a significant order book which complies with our corporate plan of adding 128,000 MW of capacity by 2032. How has the capacity addition been over the years? T hen t here has been a quantum jump in the capacity addition rate. We added almost 10,000 MW in a span of just three years as opposed to earlier, when it had taken us 10 to 11 years. At present, we have nearly 22,000 MW under execution. The current installed capacity of NTPC is 43,128 MW. At present, we have nearly 22,000 MW under execution. Your views on green power addition? There is a plan to add more green power capacity in the near future as per the vision of the prime minister. We plan to scale up solar capacity to around 3,000 MW. NTPC is also focusing on installing rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) systems at available roof areas at power stations to meet the energy requirements of its various offices. How do you ensure fuel security especially your coal requirement? Ten coal blocks have been awarded to NTPC. These have geological reserves of around 5 billion tonnes and production potential of 100 million tonnes per annum (MTPA), which can cater to substantial requirement of the company’s generation capacity. We are making our best efforts to extract these reserves as soon as possible to augment generation. Total coal consumed during FY ’14 was 158.57 million metric tonnes (MMT) comprising 148.18 MMT of domestic coal and 10.39 MMT of imported coal. For FY ’15, total coal requirement is estimated to be 177 MMT. Out of this 147 MMT is expected against coal supply agreements and 3 MMT through bilateral MOU/eauction. The gap of 27 MMT domestic coal is to be mitigated through 17 MMT of imported coal.