The Anushakti Vidhyut Nigam Limited, an atomic power joint venture (JV) between Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) and National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) is amending the terms of the agreement signed 13 years ago. NPCIL and NTPC have amended their agreement to a 50:50 partnership from the earlier arrangement in which the equity holding was 51% for NPCIL and 49% for NTPC.

Anushakti Vidhyut will initially develop two pressurised heavy-water reactor (PHWR) projects with a total capacity of 4,200 MWe. The two projects are: Chutka Madhya Pradesh Atomic Power Project with two 700 MWe units and Mahi Banswara Rajasthan Atomic Power Project with four 700 MWe units, which were identified as a part of serial construction plan.

This supplementary joint venture agreement represents a critical milestone for NTPC and NPCIL in collaborating and cooperating in the development of nuclear power projects that will assist the country in reaching its clean energy objectives to achieve a net zero emission target by 2070, a Power Ministry statement said.

Ujjwal Kanti Bhattacharya, director of projects at NTPC and Ranjay Sharan, director of projects at NPCIL, signed the deal. Also present at the ceremony were Minister of Power, New & Renewable Energy RK Singh, Department of Atomic Energy Secretary & Atomic Energy Commission Chairman KN Vyas, Power Ministry Secretary Alok Kumar, NTPC Chairman & Managing Director (CMD) Gurdeep Singh, NPCIL CMD BC Pathak and other senior officials.

State-owned NTPC is India's biggest power utility with an installed capacity of 71,644 MWe and a generation portfolio including coal, gas, hydro, solar and wind. The company plans to increase its generation capacity to around 130 GWe by 2032. It was considering including nuclear capacity in its fleet in 2007, in 2010 agreed the JV NPCIL, However, it was only after 2015 when India's Atomic Energy Act was amended that NPCIL was able to form joint ventures with other Indian public sector undertakings. such as NTPC.

Image: The amended JV agreement will help India reach its goal of net zero emissions by 2070 (courtesy of Ministry of Power and NTPC)