Grid Corporation of Orissa Ltd (Gridco), the bulk purchaser of power in the state, today signed Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) with state owned power utilities- Orissa Hydro Power Corporation (OHPC) and Orissa Thermal Power Corporation Ltd (OPTCL) for purchase of power from their proposed power plants.
The pact with OHPC is meant for purchase of power from three proposed hydro-electric plants- Sindol-I, Sindol-II and Sindol-III with a combined capacity of 322 MW. These hydro-electric projects will be set up at Deogaon in Sambalpur district and Kapasira and Godhaneswar, both in Sonepur district.
The agreement between Gridco and OHPC was signed between S K Pattanayak, director (finance), OHPC and A C Mallik, director (commercial) of Gridco.
Speaking on the occasion, P K Jena, the state energy secretary and chairman, OHPC said, “All the three hydel projects will be constructed over the Mahanadi river. There will neither be submergence of forests nor displacement of people because of these projects. The detailed project report (DPR) for the Sindol-I project has been prepared.”
The Sindol cascade hydro-electric project would consist of three power stations integrated with three barrages located between Sambalpur and Sonepur districts of Orissa. It envisages utilization of the regulated releases from Hirakud reservoir together with the additional discharges due to spills and inflows from downstream intermediate catchments for power generation.
The three hydro-electric projects are set to help to restore the hydro-thermal mix of the power sector in the state.
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The PPA with OTPCL is meant for purchase of power from the 2000 MW plant proposed to be set up at Kamakhya Nagar. The agreement was signed by H P Mohapatra, chief executive officer, OTPCL and A C Mallick, director (commercial) of Gridco.
OTPCL, a 50:50 joint venture between OHPC and OTPCL, will execute the project. Both the joint venture partners have committed their allocated coal blocks to this project. It has been decided to use the Biatarani West coal block allotted to OHPC and Mandakini-B coal block allotted to OMC.
OTPCL will use super critical technologies in the implementation of the project.
Land acquisition for this 2000 MW power project is expected to begin soon. Power production from this plant is expected to take off from 2015-16.
Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak, the state energy minister said, “The state's energy requirement is projected at 4000 MW by 2012 and 6000 MW by 2017. The state government is committed to meet the power requirement of the people to bring in sustainable development.”
Hemant Sharma, managing director, Gridco, said, “The signing of the PPAs is in pursuant to the long discussions with these companies. Gridco has also signed PPAs with seven developers of biomass projects with a combined power generation capacity of 93 MW.”
Gridco inked PPAs with these seven biomass players on Thursday. These projects are to be set up by Shalivahana Green Energy Pvt ltd (Dhenkanal), Prasad Bio-Energy Pvt Ltd (Rayagada), Andhavarapu Bio-Energy Pvt Ltd (Nabarangpur), AVN Power Projects Ltd (Kalahandi), Staya Bio-Power Pvt Ltd (Ganjam), Rashmee Power Pvt Ltd (Boudh) and Rake Power Ltd (Sundergarh).