BHUBANESWAR : The State Government will draw 50 per cent power from the Stage-III power projects of NTPC’s Talcher Thermal Power Station at a price to be decided by the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission. “The State Government has committed to buy 50 per cent of the power from TTPS under the power purchase agreement (PPA) while States like West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand and Sikkim will procure 35 per cent of the power. The remaining 15 per cent will be in the central pool as reserve power,” said a senior NTPC officer.
The other contentious issues of power tariff from the new project have been resolved. The cost of power will be determined by CERC and this has been accepted by the State Government. The expansion plan of NTPC for TTPS Stage-III projects is hanging fire from 2017 due to delay in granting clearance by the State Government. “We are in advanced stage of sorting out pending issues with Odisha Government for TTPS projects. There are some glitches in the evacuation of power from NTPC’s new projects under execution in the State. We are confident of resolving these issues shortly,” said NTPC Regional Executive Director (Eastern Region II) Sanjeev Kishore.
The State Government had flagged reservations with the Union Power Ministry over escalation of power tariffs by NTPC from Rs2.70 per unit (as agreed in the PPA) to Rs3.4 per unit. The State Government approved the TTPS expansion plan entailing an investment of Rs7,698 crore in January 2020 when the national power major threatened to shelve it after winding up the existing 460 MW generating capacity in December 2020. Meanwhile, NTPC has awarded contract worth Rs6,500 crore after bidding process to public sector BHEL for construction of boiler, turbine and generator (BGT).
The national power major will set up 1320 (2x660 MW) super critical power units on the existing premises of TTPC at Talcher in Angul district. As per the initial schedule the first unit was supposed to be commissioned in 2021. Kishore said the second unit of 800 MW capacity of the super thermal power station at Darlipalli in Sundargarh district is likely to be commission in the second quarter of 2020-21. The first unit of a similar capacity commissioned last year will go into commercial operation on Mar 1, 2020.
Initial agreements
Cost of power will be determined by CERC Odisha has committed to buy 50 pc of power from TTPS under PPA States like West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand and Sikkim will procure 35 pc of power Remaining 15 pc will be in central pool as reserve power
