NEW DELHI: India’s largest power producer NTPC Ltd is expecting pan India licence for setting up charging stations for electric vehicles (EV). It is exploring the possibility of securing necessary licence for the same.
Currently, under The Electricity Act, 2003, a distribution licence is required to distribute power from the respective state electricity regulatory commissions (SERCs).
The EV business assumes importance for NTPC due to its lucrative market potential of around 90 billion units of power, a recent report said.
With the current installed power generation capacity and projects under construction expected to meet India’s electricity demand till 2026, NTPC is scouting for new growth areas.
Recently, a senior NTPC executive, said that company is trying to get a common licence. Electricity can be sold by a discom, a licencee or a franchisee. All three models are there. It is a licenced activity.
“We will try to work it out if it is possible to have one licence for the whole country. We are looking for a country-wide licensing. If that happens we will be able to set up the charging stations very quickly,”, official said.
NTPC is exploring an Electric Vehicle business to help create the demand for electricity generated by its plants and keep pace with the fast-changing power sector.
This comes in the backdrop of ambitious government plans for a mass- scale shift to electric vehicles by 2030 so that every vehicle on Indian roads by then—both personal and commercial—is powered by electricity.
Any shift to electric vehicles will also help cut both air pollution and fuel imports. NTPC plans to set up battery swapping stations wherein recharged batteries will be swapped with the batteries drained of charge.
Company is working on a plan to bring down the cost of setting up these charging stations by half to around Rs 1 lakh each. In addition, NTPC wants to contribute significantly to India’s plans to set up 100GW of solar power capacity by 2022.
The utility wants to supply electricity from 10,000 MW of solar power capacity that it is setting up on its own and buy 15,000 MW on behalf of the ministry of new and renewable energy.
A spokesperson has said that NTPC is exploring various options in the area of EV charging station business.
