State-owned mining company Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL), which is setting up a 600 Mw in Jaipur mandal of Adilabad district, would place orders for the power plant equipment from BHEL in July. The company would call for bids for the balance of plant in October.
Speaking to Business Standard, SCCL chairman and managing director S Narsing Rao said it would take 36 to 40 months for the project to complete once the zero date starts in October.
SCCL preferred to place the order with BHEL on a nomination basis. The power plant equipment would cost about Rs 1,300 crore while the balance of the plant about Rs 1,150 crore. The total cost of the project is pegged at Rs 2,700 crore in a 70-30 debt equity ratio.
SCCL would raise 30 per cent from internal accruals and the remaining would come from institutional lenders. "Financial closure will not be a problem. Several institutions are willing to fund us,'' Rao said.
It is awaiting the tender process to complete for the costs to freeze before signing the power purchase agreement (PPA), he added.
Of the 600 Mw, SCCL would need about 150 Mw for its own use and the remaining would be offered on the basis of the PPA signed.
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The company has already acquired about 1,750 acre, including 350 acre government land, and obtained necessary clearances. NTPC would be the consultant for the project. It also tied up the water supply of 1 tmc from river Godavari, he said.
The project was initially envisaged to be a merchant plant allowing SCCL to sell the power to the customers on a demand-supply basis. However, the state government did not allow the project on a merchant basis in view of the shortage of power in the state and the difficulty it faced in purchasing power from outside despite offering a premium.
About 2.75 million tonne coal would be needed and the same would be supplied from the Srirampur opencast mine in Adilabad.
In the second phase, when the capacity would be added by another 600 Mw, the coal would come from the RK open cast mine. "Mining from these will start soon. They only need a year's preparatory work,'' he said.