By IANS,
Chandigarh : China Light and Power, a 107-year-old Hong Kong-based company, Wednesday tied up with the Haryana government – becoming the first independent power producer (IPP) in the state – to set up a coal-based power plant.
Both sides have tied up for generation of 1,320 MW of power through the Rs.70 billion ($1.67 billion) thermal power plant to be set up in Jhajjar district of southwest Haryana.
“China Light and Power company will be the first IPP in Haryana for power generation. It has been selected after international competitive bidding,” Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda announced after a state cabinet meeting here Wednesday.
IPP refers to a producer of electrical energy, which is not a public utility.
Haryana is expected to face a power shortfall of up to 5,000 MW by 2012 and the tie-up is designed to overcome that.
The power company, established in Hong Kong in 1901, is generating over 13,000 MW of power in Hong Kong, Australia, China, Thailand, Taiwan and India, among other countries.
It is utilising different sources of energy including thermal, nuclear, gas and wind power for power generation. CLP and its subsidiaries are also engaged in transmission and distribution of power in these countries.
The company is already generating power in the Indian states of Gujarat, Karnataka and Maharashtra.
Nineteen bidders had applied for the thermal power plant out of which 11 were short-listed by the state government.
As per the tie-up, Hooda said, CLP would establish a thermal power plant of 1,320 MW capacity with mega-power plant status which will supply 90 percent of the generated power to Haryana itself for 25 years.
The chief minister added that the process for acquisition of 1,221 acres in the villages of Khanpur Khurd, Khanpur, Wajidpur and Jharli of Jhajjar district had commenced.
The Haryana government will provide the company with mandatory clearances and water and coal linkages.