India’s NTPC and ONGC Reaffirm Offshore Wind Partnership

October 2, 2023, by Adrijana Buljan

India’s largest oil and gas exploration and production company, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), and NTPC Green Energy Limited (NGEL), a fully owned subsidiary of India’s largest utility company NTPC, have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to collaborate on offshore wind, clean fuel and other projects related to energy transition, both in India and overseas.

Under the MOU, signed on 27 September, the two companies will explore the feasibility and development of renewable energy projects, primarily offshore wind, and will also explore opportunities in the storage, e-mobility, and nuclear sectors, as well as in green hydrogen and its derivatives green ammonia and green methanol.

The MOU between ONGC and NGEL follows a similar agreement ONGC and NGEL’s parent company NTPC signed in 2020.

NTPC has established the fully owned subsidiary NTPC Green Energy Limited as part of increasing its renewable energy portfolio, with the subsidiary set to take on renewable energy projects including NTPC’s business in offshore wind, green hydrogen, energy storage technologies, and others.

In India, the government has been intensively working over the past couple of years to launch the country’s first offshore wind tender, which is now expected at the beginning of 2024.

Last month, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) issued a public notice on the allocation of offshore wind development areas off the coast of the Tamil Nadu region, with 7,215 MW of capacity to be made available throughout 2024 and 2025.

MNRE plans to open four areas for bids early next year, with a total capacity of 4,140 MW to be offered to the developers, and procure an additional 3,075 MW of capacity across three sites that are planned to be offered in 2025.