Hyderabad-based NSL Power, which recently scrapped its 1,320 Mw power project at Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu due to local protests, has decided to relocate the plant to Orissa.
This will be the company’s second project in Orissa as it is currently in the process of acquiring land for a 1,320 Mw coal-fired power plant at Angul.
For the second project, the company has applied to the Orissa government for clearances and the proposal is being vetted by the state-owned Industrial Investment Promotion Corporation of Orissa Limited (IPICOL).
“We have submitted the proposal to IPICOL. After we get the necessary clearances, we will decide about the place and capacity of our second power plant,” said P C Panda, Orissa project head of NSL Power.
The state government recently directed the IPICOL chairman and managing director (CMD) to place the proposal before the next Task Force meeting.
The Nagapattinam project was held back after stiff opposition from local villagers in Tamil Nadu. The project, conceived in 2008 intended to produce 1,320 Mw power and the company had already acquired more than half of 1,300 acres of land required for it.
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Sources said, the company chose Orissa to relocate the project on the grounds of easier access of coal, a key requirement for thermal power plants.
For the Tamil Nadu power project, NSL Power was in agreement with the Mahanadi Coal fields Ltd (MCL), as per the coal linkage policy of the Central government, for supply of 70 per cent of its coal requirement.
The coal would have been shipped via Paradip port to Vanagiri in Tamil Nadu, where the company had plans to build a captive jetty. NSL would have the rest 30 per cent coal need through imports from Indonesia.
For the Angul project, the NSL Power is in pact with the MCL for supply of entire coal requirement through the coal linkage.