IPCL's Haldia power plant to be commissioned by mid 2013

India Power Corporation Ltd (IPCL), holding company of DPSC Ltd, expects its 450 mega watt (MW) Haldia plant to be commissioned by the third quarter of 2013.

“Through this plant and through special purpose vehicles, we have an overall investment plan of more than Rs 25,000 crore in the next five years. This includes the 450-mega watt thermal power plant at Haldia with an investment of Rs.2500 crore at Haldia. The plant is expected to be commissioned in mid 2013. While the DPSC’s 540MW greenfield unit at Raghunathpur will see an investment of Rs 3000 crore. More than this, we have signed MoUs with Bengal, Bihar, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh to build more than 4,000MW of thermal power capacity,” said Anup Bhargava, who joined as managing director of IPCL recently.

DPSC came under IPCL fold after divestment by Andrew Yule in 2009-10. While the land for the first phase of Raghunathpur (1 X 270 MW) in Purulia has already been allotted by West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC), BTG order was given to Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL).

The Company will also be commissioning a 12 MW thermal power plant at Dishergarh (Asansol) at a cost of Rs 60 crore the end of this month. DPSC currently has a generation capacity of 42 MW thermal power from its plants at Chinakuri and Dishergarh in West Bengal.

Bhargava said that DPSC is expected to close the current financial year with a turnover exceeding Rs 500 crore. Power demand this March is expected to touch 200 MW which is about 10 per cent higher than the previous year. This year DPSC has already invested more than Rs.120 crore to strengthen its distribution capacity.

IPCL has already set up wind projects (35.5 MW) in Gujarat and Karnataka. Another 60 MW wind project in Rajasthan is in advanced stage. “In the next five years, we want to focus on renewable energy too. We want to have about 500 MW by then. On the other hand, we are looking for hydro electric power projects in Uttarakhand and North East,” he added.