NTPC Lara plans to add 1600 Mw capacity Chhattisgarh's Raigarh district

Power producer NTPC has received the approval of its board of directors to start Stage-II of Lara Super Thermal Power Project (STPP) in Chhattisgarh’s Raigarh district.

The move would expand the power project’s capacity to 3,200 megawatt (Mw) from 1,600 Mw now.

In a regulatory filing on Wednesday, NTPC said the current estimate of the investment approval was ~15,529.99 crore as the company would not need fresh land purchase and acquisition.

The Lara station has an installed capacity of 4,000 Mw with five units of 800 Mw each. Similar to the Stage-I of the project, Stage-II will have 1,600 Mw capacity.

NTPC has acquired 2,400 acres to accommodate the plant, township, and ash dyke. While Stage-I is taking up approximately 1,400 acres, the remaining land would be used for stage-II, the company officials said.

Coal requirement for Lara STPP Stage-II (2×800 Mw) would be about 7 million tonne per annum (mtpa) at 90 per cent plant load factor (PLF), which will be met from the Talaipalli coal block allotted to NTPC.

The project was expedited after NTPC signed a pact with the Chhattisgarh government in July 2009 for the development of a 4,000 Mw super thermal power plant. The investment for Stage-I was approved in November 2012 and the construction started in December of that year.

Under Stage-I, the first and second units of 800 Mw were commissioned on September 30, 2019, and July 20, 2020, respectively. The beneficiary states include Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, and Goa.