NTPC to commission 250 MW thermal power unit in Assam by June: Report

THE nation's largest power producer, NTPC Ltd, will commission the 250 MW Bongaigaon thermal power project (TPP) in Kokrajhar (Assam) by June this year. Bongaigaon is the first NTPC project in the north-eastern region of 750 MW capacity (3x250 MW). Of the total capacity, 500 MW (2x250 Mw) is already generating power.
“The commissioning of one unit of 250 Mw is set to start. The unit will be synchronised by May-June this...
year and power will be supplied to the north-eastern states,” said Dipankar Bose, group general manager, Bongaigaon TPP, NTPC.
With the commissioning of the last unit (1x250 MW), the power plant will achieve the full capacity of 750 MW. The unit will source the coal from the Eastern Coalfields Limited, North East Coalfields and Central Coalfields Limited.
For the first time, flue gas desulphurisation technology will be used in the plant to control emission of sulphur dioxide.
For running the two units of 250 MW each, NTPC requires about 5,200 tonnes of coal per day.
With the new unit coming in the requirement of the coal wull go up to 7,000-7,500 tonnes per day.
The Bongaigaon project comes under the Eastern Region-II, which looks after the stations and projects in Odisha and northeastern part of the country.
Similarly, in Odisha, NTPC Ltd has firmed up plans to start commercial operations at its Rs 125 billion proposed 1600 MW (2x800) supercritical coal-based power plant at Darlipalli.
One unit of 800 Mw will come by December in the next financial year but the commercial operations are slated to kick-off by March 2019. The second unit of similar capacity is projected to start by September 2019. Odisha will get 50 per cent power of the total capacity.
The power major will source coal from its Dulanga coal mine to meet the raw material requirements. For additional requirements, it will source from Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL).
The project will consume eight million tonnes of coal annually. The beneficiary states of the project are Odisha (800 Mw), West Bengal (423 Mw), Jharkhand (142 Mw), Sikkim (21 Mw) and Bihar (215 Mw).
In a related development, NTPC will supply 300 megawatts (MW) to Bangladesh. It is part of India’s strategy of playing a key role in creating a new energy security architecture for its neighbours.
Unit NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam Ltd (NVVN) will supply power to Bangladesh Power Development Board, said India’s largest power generation utility in a statement on Tuesday. Of India’s current supplies of 660MW to Bangladesh, NTPC has been supplying 410MW. India’s playbook ranges from cross-border electricity trade to supplying petroleum products. “Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) invited tender for supply of 500 MW power from India under short term (1st June 2018 to 31st December 2019) and long term (1st January 2020 to 31st May 2033). The bid for this tender was submitted on 11th January 2018 and four bidders namely NVVN, Adani, PTC and Sembcorp submitted their bid. Financial bid was opened on 11th February 2018,” the statement said.
NTPC’s projects account for 16 percent or 51,635MW of India’s installed power generation capacity of 331,117.58MW.
“NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam Ltd, wholly owned subsidiary of NTPC Ltd emerged as successful bidder (L1) both in short term and long term for 300MW power. The supply of power is likely to be commenced from June 2018 after commissioning of 500MW HVDC (high-voltage direct current) inter connection between India and Bangladesh,” the statement added without disclosing the price at which the electricity will be supplied. India, last year, signed two lines of credit worth $5 billion during Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s visit to India.
The supply of 300MW of power will help NTPC earn Rs900 crore in annual revenue, according to the company. India’s largest power generation utility has been trying to keep pace with the fast-changing power sector wherein the absence of fresh demand for electricity is weighing down the entire power sector.
Fostering cross-border energy trade is an important part of Modi’s South Asia-focused neighbourhood-first policy and has also been articulated in federal think tank NITI Aayog’s draft national energy policy.
India already has power grid links with Bhutan, Nepal and Bangladesh, and is building power projects in the three countries. It also plans to develop power transmission links with Myanmar and Sri Lanka.