NTPC Darlipali plant’s 2nd unit to commence operation from Sept 1

Bhubaneswar: NTPC Limited will start commercial operation of its second unit of Darlipall Super Thermal Power Station in Odisha’s Sundargarh district from September 1 this year.

 “The second unit of the power plant with 800MW capacity that completed its trial operation on 21st. July will start commercial generation from 1st. Sept21,” said NTPC Regional Executive Director (Eastern Region) SK Satya.

While Odisha is entitled to receive 50 per cent of the power generated by the Darlipali Power Project of 1600 MW (2 X 800 MW), the remaining 50 per cent will be sold to Bihar, Jharkhand, Sikkim, and West Bengal.

As per the power purchase agreement with the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) the cost of power from the Darlipali plant will be Rs 2.90 per unit. While the fixed cost of power is set at Rs. 1.90 per unit, the variable cost (ECR) has bent determined at Rs. 1 per-unit.

NTPC has already made an expenditure of over Rs 13,500 core in the project that is estimated at Rs 13,700 crore.

Some of the works like construction of railway line for transportation of coal and construction of merry go round (MGR) linking to railway sidings at Laikera and Kechobahal stations at Jharsuguda district for coal dispatch to the plant is under progress. It is expected that these works will be completed by June 2022.

The construction of the railway lines and MGR was delayed due to land acquisition problems. However, the issues were resolved after the Cabinet Committee on Investment (CCI) took up the matter with the State Government in January 21.

Installation of Flue Gas Desulphurization (FGD) system to curb SOx missions is under progress and this will be completed by next year.

The pit head-based thermal power plant is currently sourcing its requirement of fossil fuel from its Dulanga coal mines at Sundargarh. With a daily requirement of about 25,000 tonne, the Dulanga mine has the capacity to meet 20,000 tonne. The balance requirement will be met from Mahanadi Coalfields Limited through road.

“Once the MGR project is over, NTPC will meet the additional coal requirement from anywhere in the country through railway.” Satya added.

 Water for the plant is sourced from the Hirakud reservoir through a pipeline covering a distance of about 45 km from the project site. The first unit of the plant was commissioned on 1st March 2020.