Let's put NLC India in the spotlight for a host of reasons. The company is inching closer to the capacity addition vision by 2030, with the second unit of the Gautampur plant now operational. A couple of order wins are another feather in their cap as well. But before we chat with the management about the revenue potential and some of these targets, Rasha Johnson with more details.
Well, thank you so much for that. A lot of news flowing around NLC India in the last 15 days, starting with the second unit of Gautampur which is live and started full commercial power supply. Now two units are running with total power at 1,320 megawatt. They've also signed a JV agreement with PTC India, and this JV follows the MOU signed between the two companies in September 2025. The JV will develop renewable projects including solar, BESS (battery energy storage system), new green technologies, and green ammonia. Lastly, they've received an LOA from NCRTC — the project involves setting up 110 megawatt of grid-connected solar PV in Uttar Pradesh under captive mode. Overall, they're doing a lot of capex considering the 2030 vision, with capacity expansion in power — both thermal and renewables — and mining capacity being increased by 2030.
Okay, well thanks Vasha for setting this up. Let's get in Mr. Prasanna Motupalli, who's the CMD of NLC India, on the show. Mr. Kumar, great having you. Thank you so much for taking the time out and being with us, sir. Well, let's start off with this unit being live in Gautampur. I believe people say this will help meet the electricity needs of Uttar Pradesh and Assam. What does it do for NLC India though?
Good morning. As you rightly said, this Gautampur thermal power station is a plant of strategic importance in a prime location. On December 9th, we declared commercial operation of unit number two of Gautampur, and immediately after that it started producing at its full capacity of 660 megawatt. As of today, both units are operating at their full capacity of 1,320 megawatt. Unit number one, since its commercial operation, has been performing extremely well, generating more than 4 billion units. And unit number three, which is in the active commissioning stage — we are expecting that in the current financial year we'll be able to complete the commercial operation of unit number three as well. So the entire station will be operational in the current financial year.
Mr. Kumar, the renewable energy capacities — I believe, and correct me if I'm wrong, at the end of H1 FY26 it was about 1.6 gigawatt, and the ambition by FY30 is 10 gigawatt. So that's a very stiff capacity addition within the timelines you have. Can you give us the confidence for doing this, or is this an aspirational target? And what are the milestones in FY26, FY27, FY28 for the same?
Sir, as you know, NLC India is an early starter in renewables. We are the first company in the country to add 1 gigawatt of renewable capacity, and as you rightly said, we currently have around 1.6 gigawatt with the aspiration of going to 10 gigawatt. While the entire country and globe is targeting doubling or tripling renewable capacity, we are targeting to increase it by seven times. But we are already on track for this 10 gigawatt because almost 5 gigawatt of works are already going on and many other projects are in the pipeline. We've formed joint ventures with the Assam government, Rajasthan government, and Maharashtra government for setting up renewable power projects. So we are hopeful that by 2030 we'll be adding more than 10 gigawatt capacity. In the current financial year, we are about to add around 600 megawatt of renewable capacity. Next financial year we will be adding more than 2 gigawatt, and subsequently every year we will be adding 1.5 to 2 gigawatt. So the 10 gigawatt capacity — actions are in place, the project pipeline is there, and work is in progress. We are 100% sure that we'll be adding more than 10 gigawatt.
Good morning, sir. Just wanted to understand — from unit two that is getting commissioned, what is the kind of incremental revenue one would see, and will margins be higher compared to the older plants?
No, the margins will be as they are in unit number one. Once the entire station is operational, it adds a revenue of around 8,500 crores to our revenue. Each unit addition per year contributes around 2,800 crores in revenue.
When unit three also comes in, what could be the total revenue potential from this?
That's what I'm telling you. Once unit number three is also operational, the total revenue potential is around 8,500 crores.
So units two and three combined — at this moment from unit two, it could be around 3,000 to 4,000?
