Army's Western Command-NTPC ink long-term pact to use solar power

New Delhi [India], September 9 : The Army's Western Command (WC) and the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) signed a long-term Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) on Thursday, under which it will draw 25 Megawatts of solar power directly from the National Solar Grid of the country.
"In a de-novo approach, the WC has signed a long-term PPA with NTPC (RE) to draw 25MW solar power directly from the National Solar Grid of the country for the next 27 years," said an Indian Army official.
According to the official, it took at least five months for the NTPC officials and WC to discuss to come to a conclusion before inking the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).
"The MoU was inked, after discussions and approvals spanning over five months, between NTPC officials and WC at Chandimandir on September 8. This initiative by WC will allow it to draw solar power directly from the National Solar Grid," the official said.
The official further said that apart from accruing a substantial saving to the exchequer, it will decarbonize upto 38 per cent of the energy portfolio of WC.
"Being hailed as a visionary step, this initiative of WC aligns it to the National Solar Mission of the Government of India, as also weans it away from the archaic coal-based thermal energy being provisioned so far, that too at a higher tariff rate," the official added.
The solar energy, being provided to the Western Command, will be sourced from Sholapur in Maharashtra by making the concept itself location agnostic, another first spearheaded by the WC.