Indian Metals & Ferro Alloys commissions 1st phase captive power plant

Interim captive power generation capacity to go up 258 MW when second unit is commissioned

Ferro chrome producer Indian Metals & Ferro Alloys Ltd (IMFA), announced the commissioning of the first unit of its 2x60 MW captive power plant located at Choudwar, Odisha.

While the interim captive power generation capacity stands at 198 MW with synchronization of the first unit, it shall go up to 258 MW when the second unit is commissioned in February 2013.

Set up at a cost of more than Rs 600 crores, the 120 MW CPP will primarily cater to IMFA’s captive requirement of electricity for its ferro chrome production. However, in the short term there is going to be a surplus of about 50 MW which can be supplied to the grid although plans are already underway to increase 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 OPTCL system as well as state of the art ‘High Tension Low Slag’ (HTLS) conductors between its complex and the Choudwar Grid. 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 topline and bottomline going ahead,” said Subhrakant Panda, Managing Director of the company.