NTPC all set to exceed capacity addition target, says Chairman and MD AK Jha

Public sector power giant NTPC has made the single largest thermal capacity addition (8,445 MW) in the country during the 12th Five-Year Plan so far, and is well on course to exceed the target of 11,920 MW set by Government of India.

NTPC chairman and managing director AK Jha said that keeping with its stature as the market leader the company is marching towards its long-term capacity addition target of 128 GW by 2032.

At the NTPC annual general meeting, Jha said that over 23,000 MW capacity was under construction and nearly 9,500 MW capacity is under bidding and feasibility reports for about 16,600 MW have been approved.

Talking of the company's strategy for inorganic growth, he said that NTPC has signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) with the government of Jharkhand to form a JV Company for performance improvement and expansion of Patratu Thermal Power Station (770 MW) with proposed capacity expansion of 4,000 MW.

"The Indian economy, the Indian power sector and the largest Indian power company - NTPC, has shown remarkable resilience by posting impressive achievements amid challenges," Jha said.

"IMF and the global economic community are looking at India for supporting the turnaround of the global economy and IMF has stated that 'India is a bright spot in the global economy'," he added.

According to Jha, long-term planning is needed for capacity addition as it takes five to six years to exceed the target to build a power plant. In the long term, NTPC has planned to build generation capacity of 128 GW by 2032 with a lot more focus on renewable energy. The power major plans to set up 10 GW of Solar PV capacity in the next five years.

India's per capita power consumption is only 1,000 units, whereas the same is 3,500 units in China, and 14,000 units in the United States. This clearly shows that there is huge scope for power addition in the country. Interestingly, the world's average is 3,000 units.

NTPC has spent Rs 23,239 crore on its expansion plans in 2014-15, as against planned capital expenditure of Rs 22,400 crore. During the current fiscal, the power giant is also expecting to surpass its capital expenditure target of Rs 23,000 crore.

Jha is bullish on the performance of NTPC as all the plants of the company have power purchase agreements in place. "There is, therefore, no risks related to cost recovery because our plants are backed by power purchase and fuel supply agreements," he said.

(In association with Mail Today)