BHEL to upgrade UP power plant

Faced with the worst-ever power crisis, the UP government has decided to rope in BHEL for refurbishing five old and worn-out thermal power units of the Obra thermal power station. The capacity of each unit is 200 Mw.

The cost of the refurbishing is Rs 1,000 crore and an electrostatic precipitator at Rs 117 crore is to be installed in each unit for containing air pollution.

Power Finance Corporation has extended a loan for the project, which would meet 70 per cent of the cost while the rest will be contributed by the state government. The project is scheduled to be completed in 30 months. This proposal was approved by the cabinet today

An official spokesman said the need of overhauling the machines was being felt for quite some time and the proposed refurnishing would increase the plant load factor (PLF), and reduce coal consumption at these thermal units by 30 per cent.

In another major decision, the state government decided to make NGOs franchisees, cooperative societies and panchayati raj institutions in the rural areas for the recovery of the power bills. These franchisees would distribute the power bills in rural areas.

The spokesman said the bill recovery scheme is being implemented in accordance with the conditions laid down by the "Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) in this regard. The REC has provided Rs 2500 crore to the UP government for rural electrification work during the current fiscal."