NTPC’s Rs 13,000-crore Darlipal unit to be commissioned in a year
15 Dec 2016 10:13 PM GMT
Buoyed by generation of 567 million extra units of thermal power so far this fiscal, NTPC’s Rs 13,000-crore Darlipali plant in Odisha’s Sundargarh district is set to be commissioned within a year.
“The first unit of Darlipalli plant with 800 MW capacity is expected to be commissioned by February 2018 and production will commence in August,” Arvind Kumar, regional executive director of NTPC (East-II) told reporters here.
The second unit of the 1,600 MW power project, which will generate another 800 MW, is expected to be commissioned by the end of 2018, Kumar said, adding 50 per cent of the power generated by the state-of-the-art plant would by supplied to Odisha to meet its energy needs. The Darlipali project is estimated to cost around Rs 13,000 crore with an investment of Rs 4,000 crore by the Maharatna PSU.
The region has shown a generation growth of 3.1 per cent.
“It has generated 18,645 MU till November 2016 compared to 18,078 MU in the previous year which is 567 MU more over the same period,” Kumar said.
“Eastern region II has bagged the prestigious MoU Trophy for best performing region of NTPC for the second consecutive year - in 2014-15 and 2015-16 -- taking all the parameters into consideration,” he said.
In the current fiscal, the region is in the second position among all the regions of NTPC in terms of Plant Load Factor (PLF) achievement till November 2016, Kumar said adding ER-II has achieved a PLF of 85.82 per cent up to November 2016.
Among NTPC’s coal based stations, Talcher Thermal Power Station (TTPS) is in the first position with 93.07 per cent PLF, while Talcher Super Thermal Power Station (TSTPS) Kaniha is in the fourth position with 85.53 per cent PLF, said Kumar.
NTPC, he said, plans to pump in over Rs 2,600 crore for developing three coal blocks in the state. Over Rs 600 crore is proposed to be invested in Dulanga coal block which is linked to Dariplalli super thermal project. Investment would also be made for development of two other blocks. With ambitious plans for diversification into renewable energy, NTPC proposes to establish a 400 MW solar power project with an investment of around Rs 2,200 crore in Odisha. The solar generation capacity is proposed to be raised subsequently, he added.
Story PageNTPC’s Darlipal unit to be commissioned in a yearNTPC proposes to substantially enhance power generation capacity to 75,000 MW by 2025 and up to one lakh MW by 2032, added Kumar.
NTPC’s eastern region II has an installed capacity of 3,720 MW, which includes Talcher Thermal Power Station (460 MW), Talcher Super Thermal Power Station, Kaniha (3,000 MW), and Kaniha 10 MW solar plant) in Odisha and one unit at Bongaigaon in Assam.
NTPC decides to invest Rs 50,000 cr to replace over 25-year-old plants
In a bid to cut emissions, state-run power giant NTPC has decided to replace its over 25 year old power plants totalling 11 GW capacity in the next five years at an investment of Rs 50,000 crore.
“The NTPC board has taken an in-principle decision in its informal board meeting to replace its 11,000 MW old power plants which are over 25 years old in next five years,” Power Minister Piyush Goyal told reporters at a function to mark Energy Conservation Day here.
Goyal added that for speeding up the process, he would ask the Environment Ministry to give automatic clearance to these new plants as these would replace the old units.
He was of the view that these plants should not start from scratch for getting all clearance as old machines will be replaced with new more energy efficient ones with far lower emissions meeting global standards.
The minister said with all approvals in place in next 3-4 months, the huge investment of Rs 50,000 crore would be done in next five years.
Earlier on many occasions, the minister had made a case for installing new energy efficient plants with lower emission and not retrofitting the existing plants.
About the use of digital mode for making bill payment of power utilities, Goyal said that it has been decided not to levy any charge for using digital means for making power utility payments except in the case of credit cards.
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