Mundra Mega power project to start before schedule

BS Reporter / Mumbai December 13, 2009, 0:30 IST

The project is likely to be completed in 2012, two years ahead of deadline.

Tata Power Company’s (TPC’s) 4,000-Megawatt (Mw) ultra mega power project (UMPP) coming up at Mundra in Gujarat is likely to start generation by 2012, two years ahead of schedule. According to the bidding requirements, the project’s first unit was to go onstream in 2014.

Coastal Gujarat Power Ltd (CGPL), a special purpose 100 per cent subsidiary of Tata Power which is executing the project, has completed 36 per cent work, employing 8,000 people onsite, according to a recent presentation by Tata Power before investors.

For the first 800-Mw unit, 83 per cent of the work for raising the structure for boiler and turbine as well as the deck for turbines and generators has been completed. In case of the second unit, 78 per cent of the work for raising the structure for boilers is complete and work on three other units is progressing. All packages have been issued to the bidders and they have been awarded 87 per cent of the work. A new coal jetty, 400-KV evacuation lines and construction works for coal and ash handling are also progressing. Equipment suppliers have started deliveries.

The 4,000-Mw Sasan UMPP, developed by Reliance Power, is also set to be commissioned ahead of schedule. The commissioning of its first unit was advanced by 16 months to December 2011, as against the original date of May 2013. The second unit will come after three months in March 2012. Main plant construction activities were in full swing and significant progress had been made on coal mine development, Reliance Power had said earlier.

The government plans to award eight-nine UMPPs in all, of which Reliance Power is executing Sasan, Krishnapatanam and Tilaya projects.

Mundra, the first UMPP awarded by the government after a bidding process, requires 11-12 million tonne per annum (mtpa) of imported coal. It has an offtake agreement with KPC and Artumin of Indonesia. Tata Power had picked up a 30 per cent stake in Bumi Resources, which owns these mines. The company was also looking for coal mines in Australia, Mozambique and South Africa, said Tata Power in its presentation.

The company will require eight vessels to ship coal for the project. The company plans to do this through long-term charters and purchase of vessels. Three vessels have been chartered and two Korean-build vessels purchased for delivery in 2011. The company has also floated a subsidiary, Trust Energy Resources Pte Ltd, incorporated in Singapore, for owning ships. Another subsidiary, Energy Eastern Pte Ltd, was incorporated earlier for chartering ships.

The Rs 17,000-crore project will supply Gujarat 1,805 Mw, Maharashtra 760 Mw, Punjab 475 Mw, Haryana 380 Mw and Rajasthan 380 Mw of power. The financial closure of the project was completed in April 2008 on the back of a consortium of lenders such as IFC, ADB, KEIC, KExim and SBI. By the end of the first half of 2009-10, a total of Rs 2,927 crore has been drawn as debt while the company has made an equity investment of Rs 1,037 crore.

Apart from Mundra, Tata Power is developing 5,170 Mw thermal projects and 98 Mw wind energy projects. Currently, Tata Power has 2,786 Mw capacity. An additional 421 Mw was added in 2009.