AES officials to hold talks with Orissa government on IB expansion

Two senior officials of AES Corporation are likely to visit Orissa on 17 November to hold discussion with the government officials pertaining to the proposed expansion of the unit-3 & 4 (660Mw x 2) of the IB Thermal Power Station of the Orissa Power Generation Corporation (OPGC).

This follows the state government’s communication to the AES which holds 49 per cent stake in OPGC to explain why the proposed expansion is being delayed.

The vece-president in charge of administration and production is scheduled to hold discussion with the state energy secretary P K Jena and other officials of the state government.The meeting assumes importance as OPGC has almost finalised its preparation of inviting the EPC contract for the proposed expansion and can go ahead only after the board of the JV partner approves the plan.

Sources said, some of the major irritants coming on the way of expansion has been resolved and this will help in expediting the project.

Since the proposed expansion (2x660 Mw ) is slated to be commissioned by 2013, AES was not keen to invest its fund in the project. However, this has more or less beeen resolved with the government agreeing to provide coal linkage for the project.

There has also been some agreement on certain pending legal issues with AES conceding to file power purchase agreement (PPA) with Orissa Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC).

In this context, the state government is insisting on simultaneous progress on the conflict resolution and EPC tender.This meeting will be followed by a high level meeting between both the partners later on, sources added.