India’s largest power producer NTPC has switched on its first wind power project to mark its presence in nearly all segments of generation business, except nuclear power.
The feat comes within days of the state-run company joining the global league by crossing the 50,000-MW generation capacity on March 31st, 2017. As a group, NTPC’s total capacity now stands at 50,750 MW.
The state-run generator forayed into the wind segment by commissioning a turbine of 2 MW at the 50-MW Rojmal wind project in Gujarat on Monday.
The company added 13,395 MW during the 12th plan, exceeding the capacity addition target of 11,920 MW. Some 3,520 MW of new capacity was added in 2016-17, including 510 MW of new solar capacity.
The company has also started production from its first captive coal mine at Pakri Barwadih in Jharkhand to become an integrated coal-based power producer.
Simultaneously with the expansion of its coal-fired generation capacity, NTPC has been steadily ramping up its renewable portfolio too.
In 2016-17, the company’s Koldam Hydel Station in Himachal Pradesh achieved its highest-ever generation of 3.225 billion units.
Its solar stations also achieved their highest-ever generation at 527 million units.
NTPC’s standalone generation crossed 250 billion units and Group generation topped 276 Billion units in 2016-17.
NTPC’s coal-based stations achieved a plant load factor of 78.6% against a national average of roughly 6%.
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