Kpc Plans Direct Sales To Pvt Units Selling Of Power

The accumulated dues by the state electricity board is of the order of Rs 900 crore and KPC will soon move towards selling power directly to private commercial operators, managing director K Jairaj said.

Jairaj was talking to reporters to announce the financial closure of units 5 & 6 of the coal-fired Raichur Thermal Power Station (RTPS). The total project cost of these two extension 210X2 units were about Rs 1,545 crore. A consortium of 14 financial institutions will pump in Rs 1,236 crore.

KPC has already invested Rs 209 crore from its equity contribution of Rs 309 crore in common infrastructure. The remaining Rs 209 crore will be ploughed in through internal resources.

While the largest financier IFCI will chip in with Rs 136 crore, the rest will be pooled by the Power Finance Corporation, BHEL and several banks.

The loan component of Rs 1,236 to be repaid with an average interest rate of 20 per cent was completely free from foreign exchange, he said.

These units will augment the state grid by 8 million units at 80 per cent plant load factor (PLF). The 14th annual power survey by the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) had said that Karnataka suffers from a deficit of 25 per cent at peak time, unable to meet a daily requirement of 62 million units with a daily generation of 54 million units.

The cost per mw from these units would be Rs 3.68 crore, while the levelised tariff at 30 years was placed at Rs 2.50 paise.

The state power corporation has also signed a PPA with the KEB guaranteeing 100 per cent offtake to be paid on a two part tariff basis and tied up to a security package.

The PPA, signed on May 14, 1996, has been designed on the lines of the government of India tariff notification rates as applicable to private power projects in the country.

The monthly bills of KEB will be paid through a revolving letter of credit and a stiff security package has been planned to ensure that the SEB does not default on its financial commitments.

The project will be completed in a period of 36- 42 months from the date of placing the order for the boiler turbine generator package with BHEL on Monday in a formal ceremony to celebrate the project's financial closure.

Chief Minister J H Patel will preside over the ceremony. The package with BHEL was negotiated through the competitive bidding route at a price of Rs 706 crore, which was 45 per cent of the project cost.

KPC contributes for 74 per cent of the total power generation in the state with an installed capacity of 3,143 mw. Another 948 mw was to be generated through six more projects and a 850 mw from its proposed new projects.

Among the proposed projects for which KPC had floated tenders for private sector participation are their 300 mw naptha based Bidadi combined cycle project. Jairaj hoped the project would be ready to take off by 1997.

The Sarpadi project at Mangalore, costing Rs 360 crore to be executed along with an Australian partner, was awaiting various approvals from the state government, he said.

The 400 mw Bedthi river project costing Rs 708 crore and the 60 mw Dandeli project were in the drawing board, Jairaj stated.