NTPC plant to ease UP's power woes

Uttar Pradesh is moving fast towards being power-surplus and providing uninterrupted supply to consumers.

Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Ltd (UPPCL) will soon sign an MoU with National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) to set up a 4,000 Mw power plant in Lalitpur district of the Bundelkhand region.

While the ultra mega power project (UMPP) entailed an investment in the region of Rs 20,000 crore, almost 2,500 acres of land, already identified, would be acquired for the purpose, UPPCL Chairman G Pattanaik told Business Standard here.

The MoU will be signed in the current fiscal. "The preliminary survey has been completed and things will start moving ahead," he added.

Once commissioned, the power plant will go a long way in mitigating the challenges faced by power-starved UP, which has to buy electricity from the central sector, besides resorting to rostering to make ends meet.

"The interest of the NTPC shows the commercial viability and technical feasibility of the UMPP," Pattanaik maintained.

The decision to set up the plant in Lalitpur was taken to cut transmission and distribution (T&D) losses, which account for almost 7.5-10 per cent of massive power pilferages.

"Since the proposed plant lacks a coal pit in its vicinity, the transportation cost has been taken into account for the commercial viability of the UMPP," he underlined.

Besides, the grid instability and other technical factors also supported setting up the project in Lalitpur. The UMPP will cater to the region and is expected to give an economic boost to the impoverished Bundelkhand, which has become synonymous with backwardness in UP.

In the recent budget presented by UP Finance Minister Lalji Verma, the state government has announced capacity addition of over 10,000 Mw.

Meanwhile, the public-private partnership (PPP) model is being followed vigorously in some other power projects in UP, such as Roza and Anpara C through bidding process.