Great Falls, Va. – October 15, 2026 -- NTPC Limited, India's largest electric utility, has signed a 25-year power purchase agreement with Virginia-based 247Solar for the company's first commercial solar thermal project, a ~1MW hybrid plant at Rajasthan's Bhadla Solar Park.
NTPC Tests Round-the-Clock Solar Thermal as Coal Alternative
India's utilities have recently built coal capacity alongside solar and wind to cover the gap left by photovoltaic panels after sunset and in bad weather. NTPC will test whether 247Solar's system can close that gap and reduce its reliance on coal. Backers expect the utility to consider wider deployment across India if the project succeeds.
247Solar founder and CEO Bruce Anderson said the technology addresses intermittent solar and wind power and avoids spending more on costly coal plants. He added that NTPC conducted several years of due diligence before moving forward.
Project Pairs One 400 kW Plant With Several Hundred Kilowatts of PV
The installation integrates one 400 kW modular 247Solar PlantTM with several hundred kilowatts of photovoltaic capacity. The Rajasthan Renewable Energy Corporation Limited backs the project and has approved preliminary studies, site surveys and structural tests. NTPC and 247Solar chose Bhadla for its abundant sunshine and easy interconnection for offtake.
Ceramic Pellets Store Heat for Up to 20 Hours
The system uses mirrors focused on towers, as in earlier Concentrated Solar Power designs, but is simplified, modular and scalable. It also supplies heat up to 1000°C (over 1800°F) for industrial processes.
Heat is stored for up to 20 hours in ceramic pellets, and hot air drives turbines that operate without combustion under normal conditions. When stored heat runs low overnight or during extended cloudy weather, the same turbines can run on liquid or gaseous fuels, including natural gas, green hydrogen or diesel.
247Solar cites lower cost, speed to power, simplicity of design and operation, high reliability, grid independence and cost-effective baseload power as advantages over traditional CSP.
The company says success would position Rajasthan as a proving ground for the technology and give NTPC a new tool to meet rising power demand while cutting costs and carbon emissions. It also points to potential relevance for off-grid and weak-grid industrial loads in other countries.