By IANS,
Ahmedabad : The city-based Torrent Power has unveiled ambitious plans to build a string of new and brown field power projects that will give it an installed generating capacity of over 8,600 MW.
On completion, it stands to join a league of major power producers that includes Tata Power, National Thermal Power Corp and Reliance Power.
According to the annual report of the company for 2007-08, the plans include a generation upgrade at the 1,147.5 MW gas-based combined cycle power project coming up at Sujen in Surat district by another 3,000 MW.
The land acquisition process has commenced for the expansion, the report said.
The first phase of the Sujen project, which was expected to be commissioned in the first quarter of current fiscal, is delayed, the report said.
But it will go on stream this year, Torrent chairman Sudhir Mehta told shareholders last week. “The company has tied up its entire requirement of gas for the project,” he said.
Mehta did not indicate the capital outlay estimates of the new projects being planned or how the company proposed to fund them.
But based on Sujen project’s cost of nearly Rs.3 per MW, the cost of all projects could be in the region of Rs.225 billion.
The next big project in south Gujarat, according to the report, will be a 1,500 MW plant that will come up at Dahej special economic zone near Bharuch, for which Torrent has been named co-developer.
This will also be a gas-based combined power cycle power plant, which will be implemented in phases.
In the first phase, it is proposed to erect a plant capable of generating 400 MW of electricity.
This apart, Torrent is planning a 2,000 MW coal-based thermal power plant in Pipavav in Amreli district in the Saurashtra region. The coal will be sourced from Orissa.
A new company, Torrent Pipavav Generation Ltd, has been incorporated as a subsidiary to implement the project.
Yet another project on the drawing board is a 1,000 MW coal-based thermal power project in Chattisgargh. An agreement has already been signed with the state government and the Chhattisgarh State Electricity Board in this connection.
All these projects will add up to 8,647 MW for Torrent qualifying it to be a member of India’s big power producers club.
Tata Power’s existing thermal generation capacity is 2,389 megawatt, which is expected to reach a total of 12,861 MW by 2013.
This includes the Mundra ultra mega power project of 4,000 MW, being executed by a special purpose vehicle, the Gujarat Coastal Power Ltd.
The state owned NTPC, which currently has a generating a capacity of 27,350 MW, is planning to add another 45,000 MW by 2017.
Reliance Power Limited its own and through subsidiaries is currently developing 13 medium and large sized power projects with a combined planned installed capacity of 28,200 MW.