Orissa clears 16,000 Mw projects

After emerging as the country's favourite steel destination, Orissa is now set to become a power hub. The High Power Project Clearance Authority of the Orissa government, headed by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, today cleared 11 thermal power projects envisaging a generation capacity of 15,920 Mw at an investment of Rs 63, 245 crore.

The authority also cleared Grasim Industries' proposal for a 3.5-million-tonne cement plant in Sundergarh district at an investment of Rs 1,200 crore.

The MoUs for these projects will be signed on September 26. While some independent power producers (IPPs) are proposed to be established by promoters that have signed separate MoUs for setting up steel plants in the state, most of the new projects are slated to be close to the coal deposits in Tacher and Ib Valley across Dhenkanal, Angul and Jharsuguda districts.

With this, the combined generation capacity of the thermal power projects lined up in Orissa has increased to 20,000 Mw. In June, the state government signed MoUs with Naba-Bharat Power Private Ltd, Mahanadi Aban Power Company Ltd and GMR Energy Ltd for projects envisaging a combined investment of Rs 13,402 crore and a generation capacity of 3,070 Mw.

Besides, the state-owned Orissa Hydro Power Corporation proposes to set up a 1,000-MW coal-fired plant in Dhenkanal district, and the Orissa Power Generation Corporation, in which US-based utility AES holds a 49 per cent stake, plans to expand the capacity of its Ib Valley power plant by 500 Mw.

The projects cleared today included the first phase of Reliance Energy's 2,000 Mw station proposed at Hirma in Jharsuguda district. The first phase envisages a capacity of 4,000 Mw at an investment of Rs 16,236 crore.

The other projects are: KVK Nilachal Ltd (600 Mw at an investment of Rs 2,580 crore) in Angul/Dhenkanal district, Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation (1,000 Mw, Rs 4,042 crore) at Neulapuri in Dhenkanal, Tata Power (1,000 Mw, Rs 4,348 crore) at Naraj Marthapur in Cuttack district, Monnet Ispat and Energy Ltd (600 Mw, Rs 2,852 crore) near Angul, Essar Power Ltd (1,000 Mw, Rs 4,500 crore) near Talcher, Bhusan Energy Pvt Ltd (2,000 Mw, Rs 8,483 crore) at Angul, Visa Power (1,000 Mw, Rs 3,698 crore) at Angul, Jindal Photo Film Ltd (1,000 Mw, Rs 4,525 crore) at Birasahi in Angul, Lanco group (1,320 Mw, Rs 4,500 crore) near Talcher, and Sterlite Energy (2,400 Mw, Rs 7,481 crore) at Bharkhamunda in Jharsuguda district.

Of these, the Tatas, Essar, Bhusan, Visa, Jindal, and Sterlite have also signed MoUs for setting up steel plants in the state.