State-owned NTPC will assist in reviving the struggling Patratu thermal power station, run by the Jharkhand government.
The 840 MW Patratu thermal power station is located near Patratu town in Ramgarh district in Jharkhand. It is operated by the Jharkhand State Electricity Board.
"The Patratu plant is currently working at an efficiency of five per cent. If we try to revive it through bidding it will take a long time, therefore I have asked NTPC to do the job with the Jharkhand state government," Power and Coal Minister Piyush Goyal told reporters here on the sidelines of Economic Times Power Summit.
Due to paucity of time, NTPC has been selected to revive the plant with the state government over selection of bidder through the tendering process where the private sector also gets the opportunity to participate.
"There will be enough for the private companies as we have identified four locations in the country to set up ultra mega power projects," Goyal said.
"These four proposed UMPPs include two for which we have cancelled the bid and we will be inviting fresh bids, and two more have been identified - one in Bihar and another in Jharkhand," the minister said.
Goyal said he is hopeful that the process of inviting bids will start in the next three to six months.
The minister also hinted at reviving Tenughat Vidyut Nigam Limited (TVNL). The company is engaged in improving its technical performance with reference to national benchmarks by adopting the best available practices and absorbing the best available technologies subject to its financial constraints.
"We are looking at reviving TVNL in Jharkhand," he said but did not elaborate on the subject.
