Mohit Bhargava’s official designation as the head of the renewable-energy division of India’s largest thermal-power producer, NTPC Ltd, belies the import of the task at hand.
What it really means is that he is responsible for engineering the biggest shift in the state-run giant’s 47-year existence.
It’s a transition that recently got a major boost when the government raised the ceiling on NTPC’s investment in its wholly owned unit, NTPC Green Energy Ltd. Prior to this, NTPC could invest up to 15% of its net worth in subsidiaries or joint ventures and a maximum of Rs 5,000 crore (~US$607 million) in a single project.
This comes at a time when NTPC is on the brink of securing a major investor for NTPC Green, with Malaysia’s oil-and-gas giant—Petronas— reportedly reportedly Reuters Malaysia's Petronas offers $460 mln for stake in India's NTPC's green arm Read more offering Rs 3,800 crore (~US$462 million) for a 20% stake.
Among the government’s maharatnas or crown jewels, NTPC (formerly National Thermal Power Corporation Ltd) produces a quarter of India’s total power, most of which comes from burning coal.
In 2018, the company decided to change that by throwing in its lot with the global shift to solar, wind, and other clean-energy sources, but the move only gained speed during the pandemic.
After being the incumbent that dominated India’s power sector for decades, NTPC was now an upstart in search of a new identity.
“Upstart is a good word to describe us. We were kind of a late entrant,” Bhargava told The Ken over the phone. “We had to adapt to the new system and bidding process.”
Since 2019, when Bhargava joined NTPC’s renewables division from its corporate-planning unit, his initial team of 60 members has more than doubled in size.
NTPC has exceeded even the most optimistic projections. Since 2020, its operational renewables capacity has tripled to 3.2 gigawatts gigawatts Gigawatt 1 gigawatt = 1,000 megawatts (GW), and its under-construction capacity has doubled to 4.7GW.
And the company has set its sights even higher, aiming to achieve 60GW of renewables by 2032.
Armed with access to cheaper capital than its peers—thanks to having the government as its majority shareholder—and a robust balance sheet, NTPC’s ability to make a splash make a splash The Ken Adani, ReNew, watch out! NTPC’s set to eclipse India’s solar sector Read more in the green-energy sector was never in doubt.
“In 80-90% of the bids they participate in, they just steamroll the competition,” said an executive with Nasdaq-listed ReNew Power, one of India’s largest clean-energy producers.
