Ind-Barath Energy Utkal Limited (IBEUL), which is setting up a 700 MW (2x350) coal-based power plant at Sahajbahal in Orissa’s Jharsuguda district, has proposed to set up a 20 MW biomass power plant at Chiplima near Sambalpur at an investment of Rs 80 crore.
IBEUL’s biomass plant would come up on 40 acres of land and the company has already presented a proposal to the state government owned Industrial Promotion and Investment Corporation of Orissa Limited (Ipicol) and the Orissa Renewable Energy Development Agency (OREDA) for the project.
“We expect our proposed biomass plant to be operational within 18 months of allotment of land by the Orissa government. The project would generate direct employment for 150 people besides providing indirect employment to 300 others”, Muralidhar Mishra, deputy general manager (corporate relations and administration), IBEUL told Business Standard. IBEUL has biomass plants in states like Andhra Pradesh Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra with the cumulative generation capacity of these plants being 71 MW. The company commissioned the first biomass based power plant at Miryalguda (Andhra Pradesh) with a power generation capacity of 6.6 MW. The project was commissioned within 13 months in October 2000. IBEUL also set up a 20 MW biomass based power project in Pamboor village, in Ramanathpuram district of Tamil Nadu at cost of Rs 65 crore. This plant was commissioned in October 2004 and uses Juli flora as the main raw material along with other agro crop residues.
Meanwhile, IBEUL has started the leveling work on its 700 MW power plant at Sahajbahal (Orissa) entailing an investment of Rs 3,150 crore. The company got the nod for this project from the High Level Clearance Authority of the Orissa government on January 27 this year. The entire project is scheduled for commissioning by 2011. “The project is being developed over an area of around 600 acres and the company has already acquired 447 acres of private land. The balance 150 acres of land for the project would be handed over to the company by the Orissa government”, claimed Mishra. IBEUL has also placed orders for construction equipment worth Rs 90 crore and it has achieved a financial closure of Rs 1,181 crore.
“The company also expects to complete its environmental impact study for the project soon. The public hearing for our project would be conducted on April 7 at Sahajbahal this year by the Orissa State Pollution Control Board”, said Mishra.