IMFA commissions first unit of 120 MW CPP expansion

Another unit to come in Feb 2013

Ferro chrome producer Indian Metals & Ferro Alloys Ltd (IMFA) has announced the commissioning of the first unit of its 2x60 MW captive power enhancement project at Choudwar.

With this, the company’s captive power plant capacity has gone up to 198 MW. The CPP capacity will go up further to 258 mw after the commissioning of the second unit of the expansion project in February 2013.

Set up at a cost of more than Rs 600 crores, the 120 MW CPP expansion will primarily cater to IMFA’s in-house energy need for ferrochrome production.

However, in the short term there is going to be a surplus of about 50 MW which can be supplied to the state grid although plans are already underway to increase ferrochrome smelting capacity to absorb the entire generation.

Power injected by the Company at Choudwar will help system parameters in the surrounding areas including Bhubaneswar and Cuttack. The company is going to lay the second circuit from Choudwar to Salepur which will be a part of the Odisha Power Transmission Corporation Ltd (OPTCL) system. This will help in evacuating more than 100 Mw besides providing stable power to Salepur and Kendrapada.

The boiler and pollution control equipment have been procured from Thermax which is also the EPC contractor while the Turbine has been procured from HTC, China and Generator from Jinan Power Equipment Factory, China.

“Combined with the imminent start of the captive coal block, the foundation is in place for a boost to the top line and bottom line of the company,” said Subhrakant Panda, Managing Director of the company.

IMFA had earlier proposed to become an Independent Power Producer (IPP) in 2007 and had intended to set up a 120 MW thermal power plant with an investment of Rs 480 crore by sourcing fuel from its coal block, but changed its proposal to convert the status of power plant to captive one. The company invests a lot in power generation as electricity accounts for 40 per cent cost of production of ferrochrome, which is used in making stainless steel.

IMFA has, however, kept its dream of becoming a IPP with a proposal to establish a 1,320 Mw IPP in the state. The proposal has been cleared in the Single Window Clearance Committee of the state government and will come up in the next High Level Clearance Committee, which is chaired by the Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.