(FE)
NTPC, currently high on solar energy plans, has shelved the plan to sell its Kayamkulam facility (Rajiv Gandhi Combined Cycle Power Station – RGCCPS) to the Kerala government. It was the Union power ministry that had first mooted sale of RGCCPS-Kayamkulam to the Kerala government. In fact, Union power minister Piyush Goyal and Kerala power minister MM Mani had even arrived at an in-principle understanding on the sale before price became a contentious issue. The plant faced poor demand arising out of high cost of production. Rise in prices of naphtha, the fuel used in the plant, has been the main reason behind unprofitable operations.
Interestingly, NTPC, which is reluctant to sell RGCCPS to the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB), is counting on selling solar energy (proposed to be generated in RGCCPS) to the KSEB. In March this year, NTPC installed a 100 kwp floating solar PV plant, the country’s largest solar panel of its kind, at its Kayamkulam station. This floating platform was indigenously developed by the NTPC Energy Technology Research Alliance, the R&D arm of NTPC, in collaboration with the Central Institute of Plastic Engineering & Technology.
