NTPC announced, on July 20, 2020, that Unit-2 of its Lara supercritical power project (Stage-1) in Chhattisgarh has successfully completed trial operations.
Stage 1 of the Lara project comprises two supercritical units of 800-mw each. Unit-1, it may be recalled, started commercial generation on October 1, 2019. Unit-2, now having completed trial runs, is expected to soon start commercial operations, an industry expert said.
The Lara project uses efficient supercritical technology. It is learnt that while Doosan supplied the boilers (steam generators), the turbine-generators were provided by Hitachi, in collaboration with domestic company BGR Energy Systems.
Lara Stage-1 is spread over 1,205 acres of land covering nine villages in the Pussore taluk of Chhattisgarh’s Raigarh district. Coal is sourced from the Talaipalli coal block in the same state.
Stage 2 of the Lara project, yet in planning stage currently, envisages three more units of 800-mw, taking the total installed capacity of the Lara plant to 4,000 mw.
With the Lara project (Stage 1) now operational, the total installed capacity of NTPC has risen to 51,155 mw. Taking into account, the company’s subsidiaries and joint ventures, NTPC Group’s capacity has now touched 62,910 mw, or roughly 63 GW.
As a group, NTPC has 70 power generation plants with coal dominating with a share of over 80 per cent, in terms of installed capacity. (See table).
| Installed Capacity of NTPC Group | ||||||||
| Fully-owned | Subsidiaries/JVs | Group Total | ||||||
| No. of units | Inst Cap (MW) | No. of units | Inst Cap (MW) | No. of units | Inst Cap (MW) | |||
| Coal | 24 | 45,410 | 9 | 6,494 | 33 | 51,904 | ||
| Gas/Liq fuel | 7 | 4,017 | 4 | 2,494 | 11 | 6,511 | ||
| Hydro | 1 | 800 | 8 | 2,625 | 9 | 3,425 | ||
| Renewables | 13 | 928 | 4 | 142 | 17 | 1,070 | ||
| Total | 45 | 51,155 | 25 | 11,755 | 70 | 62,910 | ||
NTPC has targeted to become a 130-GW company by 2032. Apart from coal-fired power plants, NTPC is also pursuing opportunities in clean energy like hydropower, solar and wind.
Featured photograph sourced from http://jssl.in shows a file picture of the boiler structure fabrication work underway at NTPC’s Lara supercritical power project in Chhattisgarh.
