The state Department of Energy has asked independent power producers (IPPs) such as Sterlite Energy and Arati Steel to start contributing to the Environment Management Fund, which will be utilized in protecting environment and curbing carbon emission.
The department has asked them to deposit their contribution amount to the fund within a month and said a compliance letter may be sent to the department.
The decision to float a climate protection fund was mooted in 2006, on the backdrop of about a dozen agreements signed by the state government then. So far, Orissa has signed MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) with 29 companies to produce about 37,000 MW electricity by the end of 2022.
According to these agreements, the IPPs will have to contribute 6 paise per unit every year to the fund out of each unit sold outside the state.
Last month, the Energy Department requested the designated nodal agency Forest and Environment Department to start the fund as two private producers, such as Sterlite Energy Ltd and Aarati Steel Ltd, have already begun power generation.
Sterlite Energy, having generation capacity of 2400 MW, started production from two units of 600 MW each in August 2010 and December 2011 respectively from its facility at Burkhamunda, in Jharsuguda district.
And Aarati Steel Ltd, which had initially agreed to start a captive coal-based power plant of 50 MW and later desired to become an IPP, has been supplying power to the state grid since March 2010.
Both these companies are also selling power to other states also through the national grid network under open access scheme.
By end of this year, five more producers including Jindal India Thermal Power Ltd, GMR Kamalanga Energy Ltd Monnet Power Company Ltd and Maa Durga Thermal Power are scheduled to commission their projects, adding 3,100 MW to the state kitty. Maa Durga Thermal Power has already requested the state government to give permission for construction of 133 Kv transmission line from its 60 Mw coal-based plant in Cuttack district.
