India's energy company signs MoU with Mitsubishi for reducing carbon emissions

NEW DELHI, Oct. 17 (Xinhua) -- In a bid to reduce carbon emissions, India's National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) Limited has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and its subsidiary Mitsubishi Power India Private Limited, said an official statement by the federal Ministry of Power on Monday.

The MoU will pave the way for demonstrating the feasibility for hydrogen co-firing blended with natural gas in MHI-701D gas turbines installed at NTPC Auraiya gas power plant in India's northern state of Uttar Pradesh.

NTPC is India's largest integrated energy company with an installed capacity of 70,234 megawatts.

The total installed capacity of Auraiya gas power plant is 663 megawatts, with four gas turbines operating in combined cycle mode.

"Achieving decarbonizing targets requires a concerted and wide-ranging roadmap across all energy intensive sectors. As a part of this roadmap, hydrogen co-firing in gas turbines can play a key role in reducing Co2 emissions," said the statement.

It said that being the largest power generator in India, NTPC intends to play a major role in India's energy transition and achieving its carbon emission commitments.

"As a part of this initiative, NTPC is exploring various new hydrogen generation technologies along with hydrogen usage so as to ensure future readiness, develop the required capabilities, and technical expertise, and align with the national decarbonizing and hydrogen mission targets," added the statement.

Under the MoU, both companies will collaborate to carry out the study and identify key actions for introducing hydrogen co-firing at NTPC Auraiya gas-based combined cycle power plant.