Tata Power Co. is scouting for hydroelectric power opportunities in India and overseas as it looks to ramp up the share of renewable energy in its overall portfolio to more than half in the next 14 months.
“We have already identified two projects and work has started for the first project,” Praveer Sinha, chief executive officer at the Tata Group-controlled firm said in an interview with Bloomberg Television.
Sinha’s comments come as the Narendra Modi-led government aims to generate 500 gigawatt of power from non-fossil fuel sources by 2030 and improve the country’s dubious ranking as the third largest emitter of greenhouse gases.
As of Dec.31, 2024, hydroelectric power accounted for about a tenth of India’s energy capacity.
Sinha said the first project will have 1 GW capacity and is expected to be operational by end of March, 2029. The second for 1.8 GW will be ready a year later. The company, with a total installed capacity of 14.45 GW of which renewables comprise nearly 40%, is also carrying out studies on two potential projects in its existing reservoirs.
“Hopefully, by the end of this year, we’ll come up with another two set of projects,” Sinha said.
Tata Power will look for opportunities to set up small modular nuclear reactors in partnership with the government following recent changes to the Nuclear Power Act, Sinha said.
Power generation companies in India are rapidly scaling up their clean energy portfolios even as India’s money-losing utilities struggle to meet surging electricity demand and lack the resources to upgrade their networks to be able to absorb more clean energy.
BNP Paribas India analyst Kunal Vora said in his budget analysis note on Saturday that there is a shift in government infrastructure spending toward power, transmission and distribution at the expense of roads, railways and defense.
On overseas projects, Sinha said his company has started work in Bhutan on a 600 MW hydropower plant and is looking for two more large projects. “By end of this year, at least one of them will start working,” Sinha said.
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