'Bids for ultra mega power plants in six months'

The government is considering a fresh bidding process in next three to six months for four ultra mega power projects (UMPPs) at different locations, Power Minister Piyush Goyal said here Friday.

"These four proposed UMPPs include two for which we have cancelled the bid and we will be inviting fresh bids, and two more have been identified -- one in Bihar and another in Jharkhand," Goyal told reporters on the sidelines of an Economic Times event on the power sector.

The process of inviting bids will start in the next three to six months, he added.

The government Thursday scrapped the bidding process for two ultra mega power projects (UMPPs) in Odisha and Tamil Nadu due to lack of response, Goyal said.

"It has been done (cancel the bidding process). Unfortunately, we did not receive the response we expected," he told reporters here.

The private companies that participated in the first round of bidding for both UMPPs - so defined by generation capacity of 4,000 MW - withdrew their bids citing problems in securing finances.

Companies that bid for the Tamil Nadu UMPP included Adani Power, Jindal Steel & power, JSW Energy, Sterlite Energy, and Tata Power.

Bidders for the Odisha UMPP included Adani Power, CLP India, GMR Energy, Jindal Steel and Power, JSW Energy, and Sterlite Energy.

Around one-tenth of India's installed power generation capacity of 250,000 MW is\ under-utilised because of domestic coal shortages, local think-tank Integrated Research and Action for Development (IRAD) has said in a report.

The report came after the Supreme Court in September cancelled 204 coal blocks, allocated between 1993 and 2011, except four vested with the NTPC, SAIL and the Sasan Ultra Mega Power Project (UMPP).

It also said the country needs investment of over $250 billion for the power sector's development in the next few years.

During the 12th Plan period (2012-16), India plans to add nearly 89,000 MW capacity, of which close to 70,000 MW will come from coal.