Uttar Pradesh, BHL Plans to Kick Off 1,980-Megawatt Thermal Power Project

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Bajaj Hindustan Limited (BSE:500032) (BHL), a part of the Bajaj Group, through subsidiary Lalitpur Power Generation Company Limited (LPGCL), has begun site preparation on the 1,980-megawatt (MW) thermal power project. The project will be based on the most efficient supercritical technology and will comprise three coal-fired units of 660 MW each. The site is at Mirchapur village, near Rajghat Dam in Uttar Pradesh.

Initially, Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Limited (UPPCL) envisioned setting up a thermal power project with an installed capacity of 4,000 MW. However, the state government reduced the capacity to 1,980 MW due to the scarcity of water in the area. For the execution of the project, UPPCL floated a special-purpose vehicle, LPGCL, to set up the 1,980-MW project, which was transferred to BHL through a memorandum of understanding. LPGCL is acting as an independent power producer for the implementation of the project. The state irrigation department has allocated 80 cubic meters per second of water, which will be supplied from Rajghat Dam through pipelines. LPGCL has procured about 1,200 acres of land for this purpose. The project is expected to be commissioned in the 12th Five Year Plan.

BHL is the country's major sugar and ethanol manufacturing company, with an aggregate sugar crushing capacity of 136,000 tons crushed per day; a distillery capacity to produce 800,000 liters of alcohol per day; and an ethanol manufacturing capacity of about 218 liters per year. Out of the baggase produced from its sugar mills, BHL generates about 430 MW of power and supplies 105 MW to the state grid, meeting its own power needs. Considering the huge demand of electricity in the state, the organization is expanding its business in the power sector. It has power projects with an installed capacity of 4,410 MW in the planning and the implementation stages, which includes a 1,980-MW thermal power project in the Chitrakoot district; five co-generation power generating stations with an installed capacity of 90 MW each at its five sugar mills; and the Lalitpur project.

The state will be allocated 90% of the generated power from this project on a tariff basis, and the rates will be approved by Uttar Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission (UPERC), the state regulatory authority. This project will help the overall development of the rural area and will play a vital role in bridging the demand-supply gap in Uttar Pradesh.

Construction on the project is expected to begin in June 2011. The state-of-the-art plant requires $2.65 billion in investments. The first unit is expected to be commissioned by December 2014, and the expected commissioning date for the second unit is June 2015. The project is expected to be completed by December 2015 with the commissioning of the third unit. LPGCL will commence looking for the experienced agencies to perform the erection of mechanical, electrical and C&I systems as per their design and drawings.

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