The Hindu Business Line : German co in talks with Indian power firms for carbon credits

GERMAN power major RWE Power is in talks with various Indian electricity utilities including NTPC to buy carbon credits. Recently, the company's representative was in India to hunt for possible clean development mechanism (CDM) projects in the power sector offering possibilities for huge green house gas reductions and thus potential carbon credits. CDM projects are those projects that could potentially generate carbon credits.

"We are in talks with various Indian power companies to find possibilities for buying carbon credits," Mr Hans-George Adam, Senior Manager Climate Change, Research/Flexible Kyoto Instruments told Business Line during his visit here. He said the company is in talks with the country's largest power generator, NTPC Ltd, besides other players. RWE is among the largest emitters of greenhouse gases in Europe.

Meanwhile, with an aim to tap the potential in the carbon credit market, NTPC has set up a CDM Group to study and prepare a report suggesting the potential areas in CDM and to thrash out a road map.

As a step in this direction, the company is in the process of preparing a `PCN' (Project Concept Note) and a `PDD' (Project Design Document) is in the DPR (detailed project report) stage for rural village electrification programme through renewable energy sources.

"We are in talks with a number of players, including international firms having expertise in CDM, to avail of the carbon trading opportunities as and when they present themselves as a viable option," an NTPC official said.

Besides taking up Distributed Generation projects at remote un-electrified villages using renewables, NTPC is also setting up new projects using the 660 MW super critical boiler technology, which cuts down on emissions in a big way in comparison to projects running on the conventional 250 MW and 500 MW technology being used for nearly all of the project in the country.

The UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) designed CDM to achieve cost-effective green house gas (GHG) mitigation for industrialised countries. The Kyoto Protocol, that came into force early this year makes it obligatory for 37 developed countries to reduce their emissions of six harmful green house gas (GHGs), including carbon dioxide. They can do this through a combination of direct domestic action and by investing in developing countries that reduce these emission levels.