The Assam government, through Assam Power Distribution Company Ltd, has asked for a 20 per cent stake in Neyveli Uttar Pradesh Power Ltd , which is a joint venture of the government of India owned NLC India Ltd and Uttar Pradesh Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Ltd. 

NLC India Ltd has a 51 per cent stake in the joint venture which is putting up a 1,980 MW, coal-fired thermal power plant at Ghatampur in the Kanpur district of Uttar Pradesh. 

Assam’s request is under the consideration of the Uttar Pradesh government, Rakesh Kumar, Chairman and Managing Director, NLC India Ltd, told BusinessLine on Saturday.  

As per the initial understanding, Uttar Pradesh was to get 75 per cent of the power generated by the plant. However, the State wanted a higher share of 85 per cent, but the State’s electricity regulatory commission has asked it to take not more than 65 per cent of the power generated. 

In the middle of this discussion, Assam, which was to get some of the power, has expressed its willingness to take a 20 per cent stake in the company.  

NUPPL’s Ghatampur project comprises three supercritical thermal power plants of 660 MW each. The project suffered delays due to environmental activism, but Kumar is confident that the first unit would be commissioned by March 2023; and the other two units before the end of the year.  

It is learnt that the order for the boiler for the plant will be supplied by L&T MHI (a joint venture of L&T and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries) and the turbine by GE. The ‘balance of plant’ is to be supplied by the Chennai-based company, BGR Energy. 

Odisha project

Meanwhile, NLC India’s other project, 3x800 MW ultra supercritical thermal power plant, in Odisha, is at an advanced stage of tendering. (An ultra supercritical thermal plant is one in which the temperature and pressure of the steam generated is very high, roughly 600 degrees C and 240 bar. Such plants are more efficient, meaning they produce more power per unit of fuel.) This project was supposed come up at Sirkazhi, Tamil Nadu, but was scrapped after it was found not to be viable because it meant transporting coal all the way from the Talabira mines in Odisha. The 2,400 MW is to be shared by Tamil Nadu 1,500 MW, Puducherry 100 MW, Karnataka 400 MW and Odisha 400 MW, Kumar said. 

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