Odisha open to concede 49% stake to NTPC in OTPCL plant

Seeks Chhendipada, Chhendipada-II coal blocks

The state government is ready to concede 49 per cent stake to NTPC Ltd in the 2,400 Mw coal-fired power plant coming up at Kamakhyanagar in Dhenkanal district. The plant is being developed by Odisha Thermal Power Corporation Ltd (OTPCL), a 50:50 joint venture between Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC) and Odisha Hydro Power Corporation (OHPC).

“Since OTPCL lacks technical expertise in developing a power plant, we wanted NTPC to pick up stake in the project. NTPC had proposed to have 100 per cent stake in the OTPCL project and offered 85 per cent power to the state. But, we can only offer up to 49 per cent equity to NTPC in the power project,” said Suresh C Mahapatra, principal secretary (energy), Odisha.

Since OTPCL is a 100 per cent government owned company, the state government has urged the Centre to allocate Chhendipada and Chhendipada II coal blocks in its favour.

“The state chief secretary has written to the Ministry of Coal to allocate Chhendipada and Chhendipada II coal blocks to OTPCL. Initially, we had asked for Naini coal block, but it has now been allocated to a Telengana state PSU,” Mahapatra informed.

OTPCL already has already been allotted the Tentuloi coal block with reserve of 1,234 million tonne of coal. However, it is not commercially viable. Being an underground coal reserve, it is very difficult to mine. Most of the reserve is below 900 metre depth. Even with the use of best technologies, only two million tonne of coal can be extracted annually from this mine while OTPCL's requirement for the power project is 16 million tonne per annum (mtpa).

OTPCL’s power station is estimated to cost Rs 17,000 crore. The project needs 1,767.90 acres of land, including 1,074.95 acres of private land, 684.25 acres government land and 8.7 acres forest land. The private land is to be acquired in 10 project affected villages — Aluajharana (19.68 acres), Annapurnapur (447.30 acres), Bijadiha (20.81 ares), Bhagirathapur Sasana (15.2 acres), Dhobabaheli (5.89acres), Kateni (84.24 acres), Kantapala (45.55 acres), Kusumajodi (244.04 acres), Mahulapala (24.98 acres) and Anlabereni (74.32 acres).

The power purchase agreement (PPA) for sale of entire power to be generated by the OTPCL power station has been executed with Gridco, the state owned power trading firm.

OTPCL has obtained in-principle approval from the water resources department for allocation of 80 cusecs of water from Brahmani river.