India’s biggest power company NTPC (formerly the National Thermal Power Corporation) is planning to establish a subsidiary specifically to pursue nuclear expansion and is already investigating potential sites in several states. NTPC is also exploring small modular reactor (SMR) technology.
NTPC’s first nuclear power project in Mahi, Banswara, in Rajasthan, as a joint venture with Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) expects to break ground in the next two months. The plant’s project cost for a 2,800 MWe plant is expected to be INR 500bn ($6bn).
NTPC Nuclear Power Company will be 100% subsidiary of NTPC, said NTPC Managing Director Gurdeep Singh. “We are looking forward to different sites in different states. And we would like to replicate the kind of success that our team has been able to demonstrate in the case of thermal [plants].”
He added: “It’s not going to be 2 GWe or 5 GWe, but it is going to be tens of gigawatts. It cannot be limited to that. And this is going to be a large investment and again, this is going to be the regulated.” He estimated the capital expenditure for the Rajasthan nuclear plans at INR 170-180m per megawatt but noted that the overall cost will depend on the gestation period.
He said it is very clear that the Government of India is seeking to develop nuclear “so we will also play a leading or the major role in that [development]”.
