Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that he would dedicate NTPC's 1,600 MW Lara Super Thermal Power Station and lay the foundation stone for an additional 1,600 MW of the plant under Stage-II in Raigarh, Chhattisgarh. According to a statement from the power ministry, Stage-I of the station was constructed with an investment of approximately Rs 158 billion, and the Stage-II of the project would be built on the available land of Stage-I. The expansion would not require any additional land, and the Stage-II would involve an investment of Rs 155.30 billion, the statement added. On 24th February, 2024, Prime Minister Modi was set to dedicate Stage-I (2x800 MW) of Lara Super Thermal Power Station and lay the foundation stone for Stage-II (2x800 MW) through video-conferencing, the statement further mentioned. The power station/project would receive coal from NTPC's Talaipalli Coal block through a Merry-Go-Round (MGR) system, ensuring the country's supply of low-cost electricity with 24x7 availability. Equipped with highly-efficient Super Critical technology (for Stage-I) and Ultra Super Critical technology (for Stage-II), all the units would ensure relatively less Specific Coal Consumption and Carbon-Dioxide emissions. While 50 per cent of the power from both Stage-I & II was allocated to the state of Chhattisgarh, the project was expected to significantly improve the power scenario in several other states, including Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Goa, Daman & Diu, and Dadra and Nagar Haveli. In another statement, NTPC mentioned that the first solar project of its arm NTPC REL at Chhattargarh in Rajasthan had declared commercial operation of 70 MW on 21st February 2024 (beginning commercial power supply). With this development, the NTPC Group's installed capacity had reached 73958 MW. Currently, NTPC-REL had 17 projects under execution, with a total capacity exceeding 6000 MW. The total Renewable Energy (RE) operational capacity of the NTPC Group now stood at 3448 MW. The expected full capacity of the Chhattargarh Solar project was 150 MW and was anticipated to be commissioned by March 2024. The capacity was won under SECI-Tranche:III, and the beneficiary of this project was Rajasthan.