NTPC to double gas-based powergen capacity by 2017

State-owned NTPC plans to double its gas-based power generation capacity to over 8,000 MW by 2017-- a move that would facilitate the company's endeavour to become a 75,000-MW firm by that time. NTPC would be able to ramp up its existing 3,955-MW electricity generation capacity from gas once the Petroleum Ministry assures supply of the fuel from all sources, including Reliance Industries' KG-D6 fields. "If NTPC gets assurance in six months, they can go ahead with the plants," a source close to the development said. Last month, the company signed an agreement to buy additional gas of 1.2 million cubic meters a day from Reliance Industries' eastern offshore KG-D6 fields at the government- -approved price of $.2 per mmBtu. The company is mulling mega expansion of its functional gas-based stations in the country. NTPC plans to add 1,000 MW to its existing 350 MW gas-based plant at Kayamkulam in Kerala, 700 MW to the one at 403 MW Anta (Rajasthan), 1,400 MW to the 652 MW at Auraiya (Uttar Pradesh) and 1,400 MW to the 430-MW Badarpur plant. NTPC has signed Gas Sale Agreements (GSAs) with GAIL, Indian Oil and BPCL for supply of around 1.2 million tonnes per annum of re-gasified LNG (RLNG) for a period of 20 years for its Rajiv Gandhi Combined Cycle Power Project at Kayamkulam in Kerala. The company would add about 520 MW generation capacity to the existing 1,480 MW at the Ratnagiri Gas and Power Pvt Ltd, a joint venture between GAIL (India) Ltd, NTPC Ltd, Indian financial institutions like IDBI, SBI, ICICI Bank and Canara Bank and MSEB Holding Company Ltd, in which the power firm holds 29.65 per cent equity. NTPC plans to increase its installed power generation capacity to 75,000 MW by 2017 from 31,134 MW from all sources of energy.