Nov 26 2010
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has contracted a joint venture accord with NTPC, an Indian power generating company, and Kyushu Electric Power Company, a private sector company from Japan, to build and manage 500 MW clean energy projects in India during the ensuing three years.
Among the Asian countries, India ranks next to China in electric power consumption and its power requirement is growing by an average of 8% every year since 1995. The difference between its supply and demand results in persistent power shortage problems, which deter the growth of the country.
India currently meets nearly 65% of its power requirements from thermal power plants and most of them use coal and the balance of its power requirements are met by nuclear and hydro power. The government of India under its National Action Plan on Climate Change has announced its intentions to meet 15% of its power consumption from clean renewable energy sources by 2020 while currently the country meets only 10% of its power from such sources. In the proposed joint venture ADB will take 25% of the stake by investing 40 million dollars while NTPC will take 50% of the stake and the balance of 25% will be vested with Kyushu Electric Power for its investment. The investment forms a part of ADB’s objective of developing renewable energy sources in Asia Pacific region by earmarking two billion dollars a year.
Michael Barrow, Director of Private Sector Operations Department (PSOD) in ADB, said that the new venture will enable India to meet its objective of reducing its reliance on fossil fuels, help the country to look up for energy security and cut down its carbon dioxide releases. He expressed optimism that the formed company will bring in more overseas investments in the clean energy sector of India