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NTPC clears Rs 20,456.70 crore investment for 1,600 MW Lara Stage III power project
Board backs thermal expansion as utility also pushes flexible operations for renewable growth
NEW DELHI: Powering ahead while staying flexible, NTPC Limited has approved a Rs 20,456.70 crore investment to expand its Lara Super Thermal Power Project, even as India’s largest power producer works to make its ageing thermal fleet more adaptable to the country’s fast-growing renewable energy capacity.
The company’s board has cleared the investment proposal for Lara Super Thermal Power Project, Stage III, which will add two 800 MW generating units, taking the total new capacity under the project to 1,600 MW. The approval was granted at the board meeting held on July 11, according to the company’s regulatory filing under Regulation 30 of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015.
The expansion comes at a time when NTPC is pursuing a dual-track strategy. While continuing to invest in large-scale thermal generation to meet India’s rising electricity demand, the company is also looking at ways to make conventional power plants more responsive to an electricity grid that is increasingly powered by solar and wind energy.
Earlier this month, on June 5, NTPC invited bids from technology solution providers to help improve the operational flexibility of its sub-critical thermal power units. The initiative aims to enable plants with capacities ranging from 150 MW to 250 MW to operate at significantly lower loads and run in two shifts, allowing them to better complement intermittent renewable energy generation.
Under the proposal, these units will be capable of operating at a minimum technical load of just 25 per cent while maintaining stable performance. Such flexibility allows power plants to ramp generation up or down depending on fluctuations in renewable energy output and electricity demand.
NTPC said sub-critical thermal units are particularly well suited for this role because they experience lower parameter swings and reduced equipment fatigue compared with supercritical and ultra-supercritical technologies in certain grid-balancing situations. Their ability to operate efficiently at lower loads and withstand frequent cycling could make them an important enabler of higher renewable energy integration in the years ahead.
The latest investment approval underlines NTPC’s continued reliance on thermal power to meet India’s baseload electricity requirements, while its parallel push for flexible plant operations reflects the changing demands of a power system that must balance energy security with an accelerating clean energy transition.
