The Hindu Business Line : Tamil Nadu likely to get two ultra power projects

More power: (From left) The Union Minister for Power, Mr Sushilkumar Shinde; the Tamil Nadu Minister for Electricity Mr Arcot N. Veerasamy; the NTPC Chairman and Managing Director, Mr T. Sankaralingam; at a media conference after laying the foundation stone for Vallur Thermal Power Project near Chennai on Wednesday. —

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Chennai, Sept. 5 Tamil Nadu is likely to get two ultra mega power projects with a combined capacity of 8,000 MW power and costing Rs 32,000 crore, according to the Union Minister of Power Mr Sushil Kumar Shinde.

The two thermal power projects will come up within a close range of 10 km at Cheyyur and Marakanam, about 100 km south off Chennai on the East Coast. Anybody, including private companies and electricity boards, can participate in the competitive bidding for the projects.

In a couple of days a central team will visit the two locations to identify the sties, he told newspersons after laying the foundation stone of Vallur Thermal Power Project at Vallur Taluk, around 20 km north of Chennai.

It may be recalled that about a decade ago a power project was conceived at Cheyyur with a capacity of 1,000 MW. However, the project was put on the backburner upon objections on environmental grounds.

Mr Arcot N. Veeraswamy, State Minister for Electricity, said the proposed Cheyyur port would handle around 30 million tonnes of coal for both the projects. The Tamil Nadu Government is planning a port at Cheyyur.

Earlier, speaking at the function for laying the foundation stone for the project, Mr Shinde said a policy on hydro power would be announced soon. “We need more power. We decided to change the rules wherever it is possible,” he said.

Vallur project

The Minister laid the foundation stone for the National Thermal Power Corporation’s 1,000 MW (2X500 MW) Vallur thermal power project and also announced an increase in capacity by another 500 MW.

The NTPC and Tamil Nadu Electricity Board formed a 50:50 joint venture company – NTPC Tamil Nadu Energy Company Ltd — in May 2003 to establish the Rs 5,400 crore coal-based thermal power station at Vallur.

This would be NTPC’s first project in Tamil Nadu. Currently, it supplies 1,492 MW of power to the State from Ramagundam in Andhra Pradesh and Kayamkulam in Kerala.

NTPC’s Chairman and Managing Director, Mr T. Sankaralingam, said the unit I at Vallur would be ready by November 2010 and the second by March 2011.

Mr Anil Razdan, Union Power Secretary, said in 15 days he would convene a meeting with power secretaries of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu on the issue of sharing hydropower between the two States.