NTPC sign MoU for power exchange

New Delhi: NTPC announced that it has inked a memorandum of understanding with hydropower firm NHPC, Power Finance Corporation and Tata Consultancy Services for a joint venture company to set up a national power exchange.

The joint venture company, which will have an authorised capital of Rs 50 crore, will be registered as a public limited company, NTPC said in a release. The exchange will provide an electronic platform for trading of power.

The proposal comes in the wake of a breakdown in talks between NTPC Ltd and the National Stock Exchange (NSE)-National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX) combine, who were earlier planning to jointly set up a power exchange.

Despite having submitted an initial application before the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission in July last year seeking permission to set up a power exchange, NTPC and the NSE-NCDEX combine were unable to firm up the modalities of jointly floating the new venture and subsequently parted ways earlier this year after failing to reach consensus on issues of management control of the proposed exchange.

NSE-NCDEX has, meanwhile, gone on the float a separate exchange named Power Exchange India Ltd. With the Financial Technologies-PTC India Ltd-led Indian Energy Exchange (IEX) already off the block, the stage seems set for three major pan-India power exchanges.