Financial closure of 1,980 Mw plant in 3 mths: Sterlite

Firm had failed to complete closure within 12 months of project allotment. Has been given grace of 3 months

Vedanta Group company Sterlite Energy hopes to complete the financial closure of the 1,980-Mw Talwandi Sabo Power Project (TSPL), to be set up in Punjab, within the next three months and is confident of completing the project within the stipulated period.     

"We have still three months left as grace period as per (power purchase) agreement for completing our financial closure and we hope to do it by December this year... However, there is not going to be any effect on the completion schedule of the power plant," TSPL CEO BK Sharma told PTI.     

Sterlite Energy, which bagged the Rs 10,000-crore Talwandi Sabo thermal power project on September 1, 2008, was supposed to complete the project's financial closure within 12 months of the date of allotment of the project but it could not do so and ascribed it to the impact of the global downturn which set in last year.     

"Because of the global financial crisis, bankers were reluctant in signing the agreement for funds and suppliers were also not ready... These factors led to the non-completion of financial closure within a year," he said.

However, Sharma said the company had concluded the Engineering, Plant and Construction (EPC) contract at the site and is in the process of ordering the necessary equipments for setting up the plant. "The work is going on at the site and we are committed to complete the project within the scheduled time," he asserted.     

The Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) awarded the 1,980-Mw Talwandi Sabo Thermal Power Project to Sterlite Energy after receiving the lowest price bid of Rs 2.86 per unit as levelised tariff. 

Following the acceptance of the bid, PSEB signed a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) in September 2008 for 25 years. As per the PPA, the first 660-Mw unit would be commissioned in August 2012 and the second and third such units would be commissioned within an interval of four months each.