Team Blitz India
NEW DELHI: India will invite private firms to invest about $26 billion in its nuclear energy sector to increase the amount of electricity from sources that don’t produce carbon dioxide emissions, two Government sources told Reuters.
This is the first time that the Government is pursuing private investment in nuclear power, a non-carbon-emitting energy source that contributes less than two per cent of India’s total electricity generation. The funding would help India to achieve its target of having 50 per cent of its installed electric generation capacity use non-fossil fuels by 2030, up from 42 per cent now.
The Department of Atomic Energy and state-run Nuclear Power Corp of India Ltd (NPCIL) have held multiple rounds of discussions with the private companies in the past year on the investment plan. With the investment, the government hopes to build 11,000 megawatts (MW) of new nuclear power generation capacity by 2040, the report added.
NPCIL owns and operates India’s current fleet of nuclear power plants, with a capacity of 7,500 MW, and has committed investments for another 1,300 MW. Under the funding plan the private companies will make the investments in the nuclear plants, acquire land, water and undertake construction in areas outside the reactor complex of the plants.
