CESC to invest Rs 3,000 cr in 600Mw Haldia projects

RPG Enterprises flagship CESC will invest Rs 3,000 crore in its 600MW thermal power projects at Haldia in West Bengal.

Work was scheduled to be completed by March 2014 and there would be two units of 300MW each, CESC vice chairman, Sanjiv Goenka said.

“We have finalised the bids for boiler turbine generator (BTG) and balance of plant (BOP) for our Haldia power project. BTG goes to Shanghai Electric and BOP to Punj Lloyd,” he added.The bids will be awarded by March this year.

“For the BTG the lowest quote comes from Shanghai Electric, that is 2.14 crore per MW. And for the BOP the lowest quote is from Punj Lloyd, which is 1.99 crore per MW,” Goenka said.

BOP includes cooling towers, chimney, ash and coal handling systems, air-cooled heat condensers and others while BTG is part of the main plant package.

The coal linkages for the plant has also been finalised as it would import 30-40 per cent while the rest will come from Eastern Coalfield.

CESC is also seeking to raise up to Rs 1,000 crore from private equity (PE) players for Haldia Energy (HEL) which is the holding company for three power projects including that of Haldia.

The power major is talking to eight overseas firms for the PE infusion for two 600Mw projects at Haldia in West Bengal and Chandrapur in Maharashtra, respectively, and another 1,300 Mw plant at Talcher in Orissa. “We are in talks with eight overseas firms. We hope to finalise this by April this year,” CESC vice chairman said.

Goenka, however, was reluctant to divulge the names of the PE firms. He also said that progress at Chandrapur Power Project in Maharastra was satisfactory.

“We are happy with the work progress at Chandrapur power plant. We are 11 days ahead of schedule there.” he said.