The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has granted exemption to NTPC Limited, India's largest power generating company and a Maharatna PSU, for making an investment in its green energy subsidiary - NTPC Green Energy Limited (NGEL).
This comes at a time when Malaysia's Petronas has offered Rs 3,800 crore ($460 million) to buy a 20 percent stake in NGEL. Once the deal is completed, it will be the first of its kind by a state-run firm in India.
"The CCEA has granted an exemption to NTPC Limited from the extant guidelines of delegation of power to Maharatna CPSEs for making an investment in NGEL. The CCEA also exempted NGEL’s investment in NTPC Renewable Energy Limited (NREL) and its other JVs/subsidiaries subject to a ceiling of 15 percent of its net worth beyond the monetary ceiling of Rs 5,000 crore to Rs. 7,500 crore, towards achieving a target of 60 GW Renewable Energy (RE) Capacity by NTPC Limited," the government said in a statement on March 17.
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The country is aiming to reach 500 GW of non-fossil energy capacity by 2030. NTPC, through this investment in the renewable energy (RE) sector, aims to add 60 GW of RE capacity by 2032 which will help the country in achieving its 500 GW target and move towards the larger aim of having ‘Net Zero’ emissions by 2070. The enhanced target is in line with the government’s “Panchamrit” recently announced at COP 26 Summit as India’s contribution to climate action towards ‘Net Zero’.
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"NGEL aims to be the flag bearer of NTPC’s renewable energy journey and presently has 15 RE assets of 2,861 MW which are operational/nearing Commercial Operation Date (COD) and through its subsidiary, NREL (NTPC Renewable Energy Limited) is set to expand its RE portfolio by participating in competitive bidding and multiple emerging opportunities in green energy business," the government said.
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"The exemption given to NTPC will aid in improving India’s global image as a green economy. It will also decrease India’s dependency on conventional sources of energy by diversifying India’s energy generation and will also decrease the country’s coal import bills. Further, it will also help in ensuring 24*7 power supply to each and every corner of the country," it said.
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