NTPC plans 250MW hydel power plant

Keen on entering power distribution

The National Thermal Power Corporation Ltd (NTPC) is planning to set up a 250 MW hydel power plant in the Nethravati basin of Karnataka at a cost of around Rs 500 crore.

The company has initiated the diligence process for the project and is in dialogue with the government. The unit will be set up by one of their subsidiaries. NTPC also announced that it is interested in electricity distribution in Karnataka.

The Karnataka Power Corporation Limited (KPCL) during 1999 had performed diligence for a 200 MW project in the same area around Sarpadi but gave it up as they considered it an "economicaly unviable project."

Announcing the power plant in Bangalore on Thursday, a spokesperson for NTPC said: "This generation plant in Karnataka is part of our overall plan to become a 40,000 MW company by 2012. We are planning to add 9,730 MW during the Tenth Five Year Plan. 2,000 MW has already been commissioned, further projects worth 8,490 MW are under implementation and capacity of 5,080 MW is in the tendering process."

To fund these expansions the company is going in for a public issue to raise nearly Rs 5,000 crore which will be open for subscribtion between October 7-14, 2004.

NTPC in addition to expanding its capacities is also taking up backward and forward integration of power generation to areas like equity participation in coal mines and LNG terminals.

The company, aided by opportunities created by the Electricity Act 2003, is expanding its power trading business and is considering downstream integration into the electricty distribution business.