Private sector power project soon to go commercial

New Delhi: The country's first mega power project in the private sector will be fully commercial by August 15, Minister of State of Commerce and Power Jairam Ramesh said.

The Minister, who is on the visit to the unit — 1,000 Mw O P Jindal Super Thermal Power Plant at Tamnar near Raigarh in Chattisgarh, said private power companies should stop poaching on PSUs like NTPC and Bhel.

The first mega power plant is being set up by Jindal Power Limited (JPL), an official statement said.
The Rs 4,300-crore power complex which has four units of 250 Mw each supplied by BHEL is already feeding over 800 Mw into the grid.

But JPL is now embarking on a massive expansion programme involving the addition of another 2,500 Mw at Tamnar itself and an additional 2,500 Mw in Dumka in Jharkhand.

Ramesh ashed JPL Executive Vice-Chairman and Managing Director Navin Jindal to give highest priority to procurement from Bhel or from private companies which have indigenous manufacturing facilities in its expansion programme.

He complimented JPL for the manner in which the plant has been designed and also the great care that has been taken to make it environmentally sustainable, the release said.

JPL has captive coal mines which is located at a distance of around eight kilometre from the super thermal power plant and a conveyor tube has been set up for transportation of coal between coalmines and the power plant.

Navin Jindal said JPL envisages a capacity creation of 35,000 Mw in next 25 years.

He said his company was keen on expanding into hydel power and nuclear power as well.

He also asked private sector power companies to make investments in education, training and human resource development.