States to discuss K'patnam power project next month

Energy officials of four states, which would purchase power from the proposed Krishnapatnam ultra mega power project, are slated to meet here in the first week of August to discuss the issues raised by RPower.

Officials of the Central Electricity Authority (CEA), which is looking into the concerns raised by these states and RPower, are also taking part in the meeting, according to Sutirtha Bhattacharya, principal secretary, energy department. Andhra Pradesh, apart from the other three states —Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu — have expressed concern about the possible time overruns in the project execution.

On the other hand, officials of RPower had pointed out four issues, including the rise in Indonesian coal prices, for an early resolution before going ahead with the project execution in a recent meeting held by CEA in Delhi. The authority, in turn, advised the company to discuss the same with all the four states.

Confirming the development, Bhattacharya, however, said the state government maintained the same stand as far as the power tariff of the project was concerned. The project was awarded to RPower through a tariff based bidding process in which the company had quoted to sell power at Rs 2.33 per unit.