NTPC to replace 11 GW old capacity with Rs 50K cr investment

Piyush Goyal said with all approvals in place in next 3-4 months, investment of Rs 50,000 crore would be done in next 5 years

In a bid to cut emissions, state-run power giant NTPC has decided to replace over 25-year-old power plants totaling 11 GW capacity in the next five years at an investment of Rs 50,000 crore.

"The NTPC board has taken an in-principle decision in its informal board meeting to replace its 11,000 MW old power plants which are over 25 years old in next five years," Power Minister Piyush Goyal told reporters at a function to mark Energy Conservation Day here.

Goyal added that for speeding up the process, he would ask the Environment Ministry to give automatic clearance to these new plants as these would replace the old units.

He was of the view that these plants should not start from scratch for getting all clearance as old machines will be replaced with new more energy efficient ones with far lower emissions meeting global standards.

The minister said with all approvals in place in next 3-4 months, the huge investment of Rs 50,000 crore would be done in next five years.

Earlier on many occasions, the minister had made a case for installing new energy efficient plants with lower emission and not retrofitting the existing plants.

About the use of digital mode for making bill payment of power utilities, Goyal said that it has been decided not to levy any charge for using digital means for making power utility payments except in the case of credit cards.