R-Power to double Rosa project capacity

Reliance Power (R-Power) is planning to double the capacity of its Rosa power project at Shahjahanpur in Uttar Pradesh from the current plan of 1,200 Mw to 2,400 Mw, with an additional investment of Rs 6,000 crore.

Chairman and managing director Anil Ambani disclosed the plan to employees during a plant visit yesterday. Currently, the project being set up in two stages of 600 Mw each. The first one is the maiden project of R-Power.

Ambani hinted work on the second stage would be fast-tracked to start production before the end of 2011, said company executives. In the current schedule, the second stage of 600 Mw would start generation by March 2012.

R-Power had achieved financial closure for the second phase of Rosa in July 2009. Industrial Development Bank of India and other domestic banks are lending around Rs 2,000 crore of the project cost of Rs 2,700 crore.

Rosa Power Supply Company Ltd (RPSCL), floated in 1994 as a subsidiary of Aditya Birla Power Company Ltd, was taken over by the Reliance Group and transferred to R-Power in 2006.

For the first phase, the company has a purchase agreement with Uttar Pradesh Power Company Ltd (UPPCL) on a cost-plus rate basis. The operational two units of 300 mw each are already connected to the state electricity grid and supplying power to UP. It also has a fuel supply agreement with Central Coalfields, a subsidiary of Coal India Ltd. In the case of the second phase of 600 Mw, R-Power has to supply half the power produced to UPPCL. It can sell the rest anywhere.

The company is implementing 35,000 Mw of power capacity, requiring funding of Rs 1,75,000 crore. This includes three Ultra Mega Power Projects of 3,960 Mw capacity, at Sasan in Madhya Pradesh, Krishnapatanam in Andhra Pradesh and Tilaiya in Jharkhand, besides a project of similar capacity at Chitrangi in Madhya Pradesh. It is also planning to develop 10,000 Mw of gas-based power stations at five locations, including a 2,400-Mw plant at Samalkot in Andhra Pradesh.