The tender, which will be issued on behalf of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), is part of the country’s green energy initiative.
NTPC will invite proposals from solar project developers to purchase electricity in a dollar-denominated tariff in line with plans to reduce solar power cost to around Rs4.37 per unit from the current Rs6.7 per unit.
A NTPC senior executive was quoted by Livemint as saying: "Solar is a clean form of energy and to make solar palatable and acceptable, it must be brought to the grid parity level.
"It can’t be supported through the subsidy route."
To further cut down tariffs, the power producer intends to bundle 3GW of the procured solar power with existing 1.5GW of unallocated power.
By 2022, India intends to have 100GW solar and 60GW wind power capabilities, which is estimated to require as much as $200bn investment.
Image: NTPC plans to purchase 15,000MW of power is aimed at reducing tariff. Photo: courtesy of Naypong / FreeDigitalPhotos.net.
