Adani synchronises 660-MW supercritical plant

Adani Enterprise Ltd-run Adani Power Ltd (APL) today said that it has synchronised the country's first supercritical unit of 660-MW power plant, taking its coal power generation capacity to 1980 MW.

"It is a matter of great pride for me that we have synchronised the country's first 660 MW super critical unit at Mundra yesterday evening," APL Group Chairman Gautam Adani told reporters here.

"We have achieved, the synchronisation of the unit in 36 months, which is fastest by any power generator despite the fact that earthquake in China had affected our supplier badly," Adani said.

APL is setting up 4620-MW coal fired power plant at Mundra in Kutch district of Gujarat, consisting of four units of 330 MW and five units of 660 MW.

"This 660 MW unit is the world's first supercritical technology based project to be certified for carbon credit under United Nation's framework on Climate Change," Adani said.

The company said that supercritical power plants operate at higher temperatures and pressures and are 25 per cent more efficient then conventional sub-critical power plants. The use of supercritical technology also leads to over 20 per cent reduction in CO2 emission.

Adani however refused to reply to a question on Union Environment Ministry notice to the company regarding environmental violations for its Mundra Port and Special Economic Zone (MPSEZ).

Adani said they are confident that 4,620 MW coal fired power plant at Mundra will be completed ahead of schedule in March 2012.

The company said that financial closure of the entire 4,620-MW project at Mundra has already been achieved.

"We at APL have set a target of commissioning 16,500 MW power generation by 2015 and we are confident that we will achieve that on time. We have also set a long term target of 20,000 MW by 2020," Adani said.

Adani has a lately focused on its Power Business and they hope to achieve generation capacity of more than 16,000 MW by end of 2015. Their power projects at Mundra (4,620-MW), Tiroda (3,300-MW), Kawai (1,320-MW), Dahej (2,640-MW), Bhadreshwar (3,300-MW) and Chhindwara (1,320-MW) are moving as per schedule, sources in the company said.

Adani said it is the first private sector company to have made arrangements for evacuating power from the Mundra power station as it is laying 400 KV Mundra to Dehgam transmission line in Gujarat covering 430 km length and 500 KV HVDC line from Mundra to Mohindergarh covering 1,000 km length.

The company has entered into long-term power purchase agreements with various state electricity utilities for supplying 7,144 MW of power which include Gujarat (2,000 MW), Haryana (1,424 MW) Maharashtra (2,520) MW and Rajasthan (1,200 MW).