Neyveli Uttar Pradesh Power To Commission Ghatampur Coal-Fired Plant By FY24-End, Says CEO
The plant has seen cost and time overruns, but is now on track to get commissioned without any further delays, Santhosh CS said.
Neyveli Uttar Pradesh Power Ltd. is in the process of commissioning the 3x660 MW coal-fired super critical power plant at Ghatampur in Uttar Pradesh by end of fiscal 2024 after a nearly three-year delay.
Construction activity at the plant, which got approval in 2012, started in 2016 and it was to be commissioned by 2020, Santhosh CS, chief executive officer of NUPPL, told BQ Prime in an interview.
The delay can be attributed to issues pertaining to land acquisition, Covid-19 disruption, supply of equipment as well as financial issues with one of the balance-of-project contractors, he said.
NUPPL is a joint venture between Uttar Pradesh Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Ltd. and Neyveli Lignite Corp. India Ltd.
The cost of construction has risen to Rs 19,406 crore from the earlier estimated Rs 17,237 crore at the planning stage, Santhosh said.
"BGR Energy that provided us services for BOP (balance of plant) work went to the National Company Law Tribunal; that affected the overall commissioning," Santhosh said.
"Now, the company has agreed to contract the BOP work to their vendors, and we are making the payments directly to the vendors for easier implementation of the job," he said.
NUPPL, which uses the boilers from L&T Ltd. and turbines from General Electric for the super-critical plant, expects it to be commissioned by end of FY24.
The joint venture company will source the coal for its around 2,000-MW project from South Pachwara mines in Jharkhand.
The mine will start producing this year. However, in the interim, NUPPL will get coal from Singrauli mines of Northern Coalfields Ltd., and if there is further shortage, it can be met from their Talabira coal mines in Odisha.
"We do not expect any more delays in the commissioning of the plant," Santhosh said.
