NTPC to allot 5 GW for green hydrogen, ammonia out of 60-GW RE target by 2032

Industry Outlook Team | Tuesday, 13 December 2022

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State-owned power firm, NTPC, plans to use about 5 GW capacity in green hydrogen and ammonia business out of its 60 GW green portfolio target by 2032, said Mohit Bhargava, chief executive director, NTPC REL. “Out of the 60-GW renewable energy target, roughly about 5 GW of our capacity will be used for hydrogen production and ammonia… It will all be green, we are not looking at any other form,” he said in a panel discussion Annual Gas Conclave held on 5-6 December, 2022.

He added that NTPC is not looking at hydrogen for generation purposes. “Hydrogen in its current context is more useful for industrial uses, rather than for power generation,” said Bhargava. NTPC has already started three pilots on the hydrogen

business. One is in Leh in which they are setting up a green hydrogen filling station along with the solar plants and running hydrogen based fuel cell buses. This project is expected to start rolling by July or August next year. The other pilot is blending green hydrogen and natural gas at its Kawas plant in Gujarat and is expected to be commissioned this month itself. The third pilot at its Vindhyachal plant in Madhya Pradesh is a combination of hydrogen and carbon capture.

“A broad idea is that in the next 10 years, we should try to create renewable capacity which is almost as large as the coal base capacity which we have done over the last 40 years,” added Bhargava.

NTPC Group had an installed power generation capacity of 69,134 MW at the end of July 2022, including coal based capacity of 56,800 MW, gas-based capacity of 6,400 MW, hydro power capacity of 3,700 MW and 2,000 MW capacity based on renewable energy.

In an event last month, NTPC’s Chairman and Managing Director, Gurdeep Singh had said that the firm is planning for an aggressive push in the renewable energy segment and repurposing their existing coal-based plants.

NTPC is also in the process of roping in a strategic investor for its subsidiary NTPC Green Energy Ltd (NGEL), according to a PTI report. The power giant is planning to transfer its entire renewable energy portfolio under the newly-formed NGEL.