Centre Scraps 12 GW Solar Capacity Addition to be Taken up by NTPC

Earlier government had planned to add 15 GW of solar energy capacity in the country which was to be developed by NTPC to be delivered to states bundled with thermal energy.

The central government has quashed a plan to install 12 GW of solar capacity out of the 15 GW capacity that National Thermal Power Corporation was supposed to develop.

Earlier government had planned to add 15 GW of solar energy capacity in the country which was to be developed by NTPC to be delivered to states bundled with thermal energy.

"Since the solar power price has fallen recently, it is not proposed to take up Tranche II (5GW) and III (7GW)," said Power and New & Renewable Energy Minister R K Singh in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

In march 2015, Ministry of New & Renewable Energy had issued guidelines for the selection of 3000 MW of solar energy which was to be bundled by thermal energy (which was cheaper at that time) so as to provide combined electricity at an affordable rate.

The minister informed the house that the entire capacity of Trench-1 has been been awarded out of which 2.75 GW is already commissioned while 0.25 GW is under construction.

But this bundling and the plan was proposed when solar power costlier and was not a viable option. With Solar tariff already touching lows such as Rs 2.44, such kind of bundling is not required anymore to make solar energy viable.

The government has set a target for installing 175 GW of Renewable Energy capacity by the year 2022, which includes 100 GW from solar, 60 GW from wind, 10 GW from Biomass and 5 GW from Small Hydro power.

Source: PTI