NTPC beings commercial operation of 20 MW solar capacity at Kawas

National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), the state owned power producer – has announced that the first part capacity of 20 MW of the Kawas Solar Power Project has begun the commercial operation. The entire solar project is of 56 MW capacity. It is located at Hazira, Surat district of Gujarat.

In a regulatory filing with the stock exchanges, the NTPC has said, “Consequent upon successful commissioning, the first part capacity of 20 MW out of 56 MW Kawas Solar PV Project at Kawas, Gujarat, is declared on Commercial Operation from 00:00 Hrs of May 14, 2022.” Now the standalone installed and commercial capacity of NTPC is brought to 54,616.68 MW.

NTPC further informs that with the latest Kawas 20MW addition, the group’s installed and commercial capacity has touched 68,981.68 and 68,321.68 MW, respectively.

The Kawas Solar Project of NTPC

The 56 MW Kawas Solar Power Project in Gujarat is an amalgamation of both ground mounted and floating PV installations.

Last month, NTPC and Gujarat Gas Ltd (GGL) had signed an agreement wherein the two decided to blend green hydrogen in Piped Natural Gas (PNG) network of the utility of the Gujarat Government at the very Kawas facility of NTPC. As per the agreement, the NTPC will generate green hydrogen by the process of electrolysis by drawing electricity from the existing 1 MW floating solar project of NTPC.

Recently, NTPC has doubled its renewable energy target from 32 GW to 60 GW of solar and wind power for 2032. Recently, the company hinted that it plans to sell a stake in its subsidiary NTPC Green Energy (NGEL) that was formed to develop renewable energy projects. The power producer is expected to raise about Rs 2,000 crore from the sale of the stake. NTPC will be building an ultra-mega renewable energy project of 4,750 MW in Gujarat’s Khavda. NTPC has also signed various agreements with the state governments of Rajasthan, Maharashtra for developing renewable projects of 10 GW and 2.5 GW capacity respectively. It has also signed a pact with the Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) for the development of 2 GW of renewable energy.