India's Modi Tells Coal Power Plants to Subsidize Solar
- NTPC to 'bundle' thermal power from ageing plants with solar
- Bundling will bring down the cost of solar power fed to grid
This article is for subscribers only.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has ordered some of India’s oldest coal-fired power plants to help make solar farms more competitive by bundling together electricity from both technologies for sale to the grid.
The decision dated July 17 requires state-controlled NTPC Ltd. to sell cheaper coal power along with more expensive solar as a single unit. The effect of the order, which was released to industry officials and seen by Bloomberg News, is to reduce the price distribution companies pay for solar power and force them to take more of the cleaner form of energy.