Sugar and ethanol major Bajaj Hindustan Ltd (BHL) is expected to start commissioning the first of its five stand-alone coal-based capacities of 90 MW each from July-August this year.
The five units that will cumulatively add up to 450 MW of coal-fired capacity, are coming up in the vicinity of the firm's sugar units at Barkhera, Maqsoodapur, Khambarkhera, Utraula and Kundarkhi (all in Uttar Pradesh), would sell the generated power to the grid. The projects, being executed through an independent entity — Bajaj Energy Pvt Ltd — would draw coal from Coal India subsidiary, Central Coalfields Ltd.
The Shishir Bajaj Group's entry into the big league in the power generation business, however, hinges on its plans to set up two mega thermal power projects of 1,980 MW and 1,320 MW, both in the Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh. According to sources, a separate unit called the Lalitpur Power Generation Company Ltd will be setting up the proposed 1,980 MW Lalitpur Supercritical Thermal Power Station.
The power purchase agreement for this project has been signed with the Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Ltd. (UPPCL) for 90 per cent of the generated power. A decision on coal linkage for the project is awaited, which would set the stage for the financial closure of the proposed unit, sources said. It has already placed a Rs 5,450-crore order on State-owned Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd for equipment for the Lalitpur project. The second mega project is slated to come up in Chitrakoot district.
Bajaj Hindustan, which currently generates around 450 MW of power from the bagasse produced in its 14 sugar mills in Uttar Pradesh, has a surplus of around 100 MW, a significant part of which is supplied to the State grid.