The Karnataka Power Corporation Ltd (KPCL) plans to directly sell a part of the power generated from its proposed 240 mw combined cycle project in Bidadi, near Bangalore, to customers.
If the Karnataka Electricity Board (KEB) does not want to buy the excess power generated from our Bidadi plant, we will sell it to a private party, KPCL managing director K P Jairaj told reporters yesterday.
This decision follows negotiations with the Karnataka Electricity Board for a guaranteed offtake under a power purchase agreement (PPA) agreement between the two parties.
The per unit cost of power, generated from a combination of naphtha and sullage water, will be Rs 2.95.
Following the clearance of the estimated Rs 700 crore Bidadi project on Saturday, KPCL and the $6 billion US-based Unocal Corporation, its joint venture partner, will sign a PPA, Jairaj said.
Unocal, which has 25 per cent equity stake in the joint venture, will fork out about Rs 200 crore in the form of debt. KPCL, with another 25 per cent stake, will place Rs 80 crore. The balance will be accumulated through private placement or by way of a public issue.
KPCL expects to raise the Rs 80 crore from its public deposit scheme - Vidyuth Jyothi scheme, which was launched two weeks ago.
Jairaj said the company has already mobilised Rs 8.70 crore.
The Bidadi plant will generate 5 million units a day to meet one third of Bangalore citys power requirement.
The power will be evacuated by the 400 KV transmission lines to meet the demand of load intensive centres of the Bangalore-Mysore region.
The main beneficiary of this plant will be Bangalore, because it will be the first major power station near the city, he said.
The total installed capacity would be 1,200 mw, with four units of 300 mw each planned under the project.
The corporation has already completed the process for acquiring a 169-acre plot from the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board.
All the conditional clearances for the project have been obtained. You know how important clearances are for power projects and the delay it can cause,
The said.
And, once the Government of India announces the fuel linkages for the project, we shall complete the financial closure in less than six months.
The procurement of naphtha, however, is posing a problem. Although the Centre has assured to provide naphtha for the project, the state government scaled down the capacity of the plant from 300 mw to 240 mw due to short supply.
KPCL, however, expects to get its annual naphtha requirement of 2.5 lakh tonnes at 68.5 per cent plant load capacity. After all, the Centre should consider our demand as ours is a Government of India company, involved in the generation of power.
The government is stringent about fuel linkage supply because it involves a tremendous amount of foreign exchange, said Jairaj.
