Amid increasing environmental concerns, thermal major NTPC Ltd is slated to spend upwards of Rs 5,600 crore on “green” projects in the coming five years.

Plans include 300 MW of solar power projects, based on photovoltaic and solar thermal technology across eight States, and wind farms cumulatively adding up to 175 MW in two States.

Feasibility studies are either under preparation or have been approved for the projects, most of which are slated to come up in the Twelfth Five-Year Plan starting March 2012.

A majority of the projects on the anvil are being set up on surplus land available with the company at its existing power station sites, thereby ensuring that the problems in land acquisition are avoided.

While wind power and solar projects are going to be the thrust areas, NTPC also has a shelf of hydro projects, apart from a small hydro project of 8 MW that is being set up in Singrauli, Uttar Pradesh.

While a majority of these projects are to be taken up by NTPC on its own, the company has also tied-up with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Japan's Kyuden International Corporation (Kyushu) to form a joint venture to develop renewable power projects.

The joint venture will set up 500 MW of non-conventional power generation capacity in India over the three years, focussing initially on developing wind power and small hydroelectric power projects.

NTPC has an installed capacity of 33,194 MW and another 15,740 MW is under construction, most of which are thermal projects based on either coal or gas a fuel.

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