National Thermal Power Corporation said it has achieved, and exceeded, its target for the addition of power generation capacity in the 12th five-year plan by adding 1,070 MW today.
Three new units were added today — one of 800 MW at Kudgi in Karnataka , a 250 MW unit at Bongaigaon in Assam and 20 MW at Bhadla Solar in Rajasthan.
Against a target of 11,920 MW (11.92 GW), it has added 12.84 GW in the past five years.
With this, India’s state-owned power producer now has 49.94 GW of capacity, a fifth of the total 300 GW for the country as a whole.
It now has 19 coal based, 7 gas based, 10 solar PV, one Hydro and 9 subsdidiary or joint-venture power stations.
NTPC is constructing another 22 GW of capacity at 23 locations, the power company said in its year-end update.
Out of this, 4,300 MW being undertaken by joint venture and subsidiary companies.
RECORD PRODUCTION
With hydro power projects running far below capacity, the demand for coal-based power has spiked this summer.
NTPC said it saw its highest ever daily generation of 784.74 million units yesterday, surpassing previous record of 782.95 million units.
Out of this, 749.63 million units were produced by coal-based plants.
For the full year, NTPC produced 243.326 billion units so far, which is higher than the 241.976 billion units achieved in the last financial year. The total production of electricity in India this year is likely to be around 932 bln units.
“The higher generation from coal based stations indicates uptrend in electricity demand in the grid,” the company said.
The year also saw NTPC bringing its first coal mine, Pakri-Barwadih at Hazaribagh, online in December 2016 and starting work on its first wind power project of NTPC-Rojmal Wind Energy Project 50 MW in Gujarat.