Two of the country’s largest power producers Tata Power and Reliance Power are betting big on renewable energy and will spend about Rs 1,500 crore each on clean energy projects this fiscal.
While Reliance Power has big plans in the renewable energy segment with a special focus on solar, Tata Power said that all the new capacity that it is planning to add over the next two years, close to 800 MW, comprises clean energy projects in the wind, hydro, solar and waste-gasses space.
“Renewable energy is absolutely key for us, in fact we are the only utility in India to voluntarily say that 20-25 per cent of our asset capacity base will always be in the clean energy space, also our entire new capacity addition of 800 MW that will come online over the next two years is in the renewable space,” said Anil Sardana, MD & CEO, Tata Power.
“We have already crossed the 500 MW milestone of renewable energy generation in India and our new projects are slated to come up in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Bhutan, South Africa and Zambia over the next two years,” he added.
Tata Power also said that it’s the only private utility to voluntarily declare that 20-25 per cent of its total installed capacity will be in the green energy space. Reliance on the other hand said that it has already finalised renewable energy projects of about 200 MW for the current fiscal and is keenly looking at upcoming opportunities to enlarge its renewable portfolio.
“With an operating renewable portfolio capacity of close to 100 MW and 125 MW nearing completion, the company has laid out grand plans to play a dominant role in the renewable energy segment,” said Reliance Power in a statement to ET.
“As rightly indicated by the new Central Government, the renewable energy space will have to be developed, if issues such as ever increasing demand supply gap for power, limited sources of fossil fuel and dependency on imported fuel are to be addressed. Reliance Power is confident that environment is now ripe to provide a big thrust to the renewable energy space in particular to solar PV projects,” the company added.
This comes at a time when the the ministry of new and renewable energy (MNRE)plans to set up giant solar projects in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Ladakh and Kargil. This is a part of the government’s target of achieving 20,000 MW of solar capacity by 2020.
“Reliance Power is keen to be a part of the journey to position India as one of the world’s major solar power producers in the coming years. Given the exciting new opportunities such as the ultra mega solar PV projects and the shortfall in meeting the renewable purchase obligations by various state discoms,” said the company.
