India’s Tata Power Eyes 40% Renewable Energy Share

One of India’s leading private sector power generation companies has announced plans to make renewable energy a major part of its operations.

Tata Power, part of the famous Indian industrial conglomerate Tata Group, has announced plans to increase its share of renewable energy output from 20% to 35-40% by 2025. The company currently has an installed capacity of 9,156 MW, including 593 MW from wind energy and 60 MW from solar power projects.

Tata Power hopes to increase its installed capacity to 20 GW by 2025. A 40% renewable energy share would mean 8 GW capacity. The company has recently increased its participation in solar power auctions.

The company secured a project under the Domestic Content Requirement mode in an auction held in the state of Andhra Pradesh late last year. The company can source Indian-made modules from its subsidiary Tata Power Solar to meet the requirements for setting this project.

The company successfully participated in the recent 500 MW solar power auction, which is part of a 2 GW solar power park project in the state of Karnataka. The company will develop 100 MW project in the state.

Tata Power, which also runs one of the largest thermal power plants in India – Mundra Ultra Mega Power Project – has had regulatory issues with regards to coal-based power plants. The company had planned to import coal from Indonesia to increase the operational efficiency of the power plant. As the prices of Indonesian coal increased, Tata Power struggled to get regulatory approvals to increase the tariff.

Last year, Tata Power announced the launch of Tata Power Renewable Energy Limited as a separate company that will own and operate all the renewable energy assets of the parent company.

With tremendous improvements in regulatory and financial support for renewable energy development in India, Tata Power seems to have taken the right approach to increase the share of renewable energy in its power generation mix.