NTPC plans Australia, S Africa, Nigeria forays

After entering Sri Lanka, state-run NTPC is now planning another major global foray by participating in power generation activities in Australia, Indonesia, Nigeria and South Africa.

NTPC had already entered into agreements with Sri Lankan and Nigerian governments for power generation and is planning similar ventures in Australia and South Africa, T Sankaralingam, CMD, NTPC, said.

The PSU is focused on Indonesia because of the country's rich coal block, he added.

In Sri Lanka, NTPC's first project would be 2x250 MW coal-based thermal power plant at Trincomalee, that would be set up on a 50-50 investment by the company and Sri Lankan Electricity Authority Board.

NTPC is also interested in a gas-based power plant in Sri Lanka, he added.

NTPC's short term plans include assisting Nigerian government to refurbish LNG-based sick power plants for extending their life span to enhance the capacity of production, he said.

In the long term, Nigerian government and NTPC would install coal-based power plant of a capacity of 500 MW, he added.