Friday, October 16, 2014: NTPC, the state-run electric utility, has announced that they will invest around $1 billion in Madhya Pradesh for installing more than 2GW of solar power in next few years.
NTPC Chairman Arup Roy Choudhury told Business Standard that the company has plans to invest Rs 50,000 million in a solar power plant in the district of Rewa in next few years. The company has already been setting up a 750MW solar power plant in Rewa, which was worth over $820 million and then they entered an agreement for the 2GW project. The total investment will be done in phases as the project will be completed in three stages, and each stage will set up 250MW solar power capacity, as revealed by Choudhury.
The company is likely to invite for domestic commercial bidding for the PV cells’ supply for the project which will extensively support the country’s solar industry. Rest 500MW solar modules will be imported from foreign suppliers. NTPC is involved in talks with the MP state government to allot land for the project. The company is moving ahead to meet its target of achieving total solar capacity of 3.5GW in next few years, among which 1GW will be installed across Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Rajasthan. The solar sector is receiving strong support from Union energy minister Piyush Goyal as he said the previous goal of 20GW by 2022 was too much outdated. Goyal urged to surpass this previous target on a larger scale.
