Orissa to get 50% power from two UMPPs

Orissa is set to get power allocation of up to 50 per cent from the second and third Ultra Mega Power Plants (UMPPs) proposed in the state, Union minister for power Sushilkumar Shinde said here.

The minister, however, ruled out possibility of allocation of 50 per cent power for the state from the first UMPP to be established at Bhedabahal in Sundergarh district, the bidding process for which has already begun. The state is poised to get 1300 MW from this UMPP and had demanded that its share be raised to 2000 MW.

“It won’t be possible to allocate 2000 MW for Orissa from the Bhedabahal UMPP as power purchase agreements have been signed with other states. But the state will be entitled to 50 per cent power from two more UMPPs”, Shinde told reporters after meeting Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

It may be noted that a team of the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) recently visited Orissa to scout for locations to set up second and third UMPPs in the state. The team is expected to select the sites soon.

While one of the UMPPs will be a port-based project, the other is set to come up in western belt of the state. The CEA team undertook field visits of Paradip and Dhamara, the probable sites for coastal UMPP and also Bolangir and Kalahandi in western Orissa.

The state's first UMPP project at Bhedabahal entailing an investment of Rs 16,000 crore needed 3100 acres of land. The Orissa Integrated Power Limited, a fully owned subsidiary of Power Finance Corporation (PFC), has been named the nodal agency for implementation of UMPPs in the state.

Water for this project has been allocated from the Ib river and check dams and barrages would be put up on the river for this purpose.

It may be noted that Meenakshi, Meenakshi-B and Dipside Meenakshi coal blocks have been allotted for the UMPP with a total reserve of 880 million tonnes. 

Meanwhile, the Union minister allayed the fears of the state government regarding power purchase tariff from the 1600 MW super thermal power station proposed by National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) at Gajamara in Dhenkanal district.

“The Central minister has assured us that the cost of power to be procured from this UMPP would be competitive. The price of power to be supplied by the NTPC plant would not be higher than UMPP. The state government has also placed a condition that imported coal should not be used for this NTPC station as it tends to jack up cost of power”, a top official told Business Standard.

Shinde said, NTPC would be setting up a 400-bed medical college near Sundergarh. The country’s biggest power producer which was also setting up a 1600 MW power plant at Darlipalli in Sundergarh district had sought 15 acres of land for the medical college.

The minister laid the foundation stone of 765/400 KV power grid pooling system being taken up at an investment of Rs 7,400 crore near Phulpada in Angul district.

This is the first such sub-station of Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd (PGCIL) in the state and is part of a High Capacity Power Transmission Corridor-1 (HCPTC-1) meant for evacuation of about 10,000 MW power from Independent Power Projects (IPP) coming up in the state.