NTPC-Simhadri will have a new 500-MW unit by the month-end and a similar unit by the end of the financial year, said Mr D.K. Sood, the General Manager.
In an interview here on Friday, he said the third unit had been synchronised towards the end of March this year and “the full load could be achieved within 68 hours, a new benchmark in the history of the NTPC.”
He said the third unit will be put to commercial use by the end of July.
The fourth unit of 500 MW will be ready for commercial use by the end of the financial year. “There is no problem and we will finish the expansion project in accordance with the revised schedule. There is no cost escalation. The project cost is roughly Rs 4,500 crore,” he said.
The Simhadri units have a capacity of 1,000 MW.
Mr Sood said there was no room for any addition to capacity at Parawada, as there is no sufficient land. But NTPC was taking up another mega project of 4,000 MW (five units of 800 MW) at Pudimadaka in Visakhapatnam district.
“The power purchase agreement has been signed with AP Transco for the project. But the land acquisition has to begin,” Mr Sood said.
The general manager said the power generated by the initial two units at Simhadri (1,000 MW) had been allocated to Andhra Pradesh. The additional capacity would be shared among the southern states according to the Gadgil formula.
Andhra Pradesh will get 384.4 MW, Tamil Nadu 197.7 MW, Karnataka 176.4 MW, Kerala will get 80.9 MW, and Puducherry 10.6 MW. The unallocated power will be 150 MW, which will also be shared by the southern States, he said.
Mr Sood said the fly ash utilisation for 2010-11 was 60.04 per cent (13,16,030 MT) of the total of 21,92,023 MT.
“We are aiming at 100 per cent fly ash utilisation. But that will take some time. We are building a separate fly ash silo connected to the railhead. The ash would be sent back to the mines for disposal there. At present, we are supplying fly ash to cement manufacturers and brick manufacturers. Some of it is also being exported to the Middle-East,” he explained.
The general manager said there were no pollution problems at NTPC-Simhadri.
“We have three ambient air monitoring stations near the plant and we are setting up three more in the nearby villages in accordance with the directive of the AP Pollution Control Board. The air quality is being constantly monitored and there is no problem. A study by the researchers of Andhra University has confirmed it. We are also commissioning another study by the National Environmental Engineering and Research Institute,” he said.
Mr Sood said there was coal linkage for the expanded capacity from the Mahanadi coalfields. “But on the whole, coal supply is causing us concern. We are not getting enough coal. We hardly have coal for two days. We need to have coal for at least a fortnight. We are importing coal from Indonesia. We have also recently signed an agreement with Singareni Collieries for supply of 1.5 million tonnes,” he said.