Reliance Power Ltd has said that its gas-based 2,400-MW Samalkot power plant is ready for commissioning. The company awaits allocation of natural gas from the KG basin.
The plant, with an investment outlay of about Rs 10,000 crore, has come up on the East Godavari district in Andhra Pradesh and is an example for multi-national collaboration.
Speaking to journalists at the project site, the details of which were posted on the BSE website, Mr J.P. Chalasani, CEO, said the entire capacity was likely to be commissioned in a combined cycle by the end of 2012.
He said that that the project was ‘strategically located near the prolific KG Natural Gas Basin’ and would be a boon to the power-deficit South. The Ministry of Power has recommended gas allocation of 9.6 MMSCMD (million metric standard cubic metre per day).
The company said that the Samalkot plant would add over 15 per cent to the generation capacity of Andhra Pradesh and about 6 per cent to the southern grid. The 2,400-MW project, for which a collaboration agreement was signed by RPL with General Electric of the US in November 2010 in the presence of the US President, Mr Barack Obama, entails an investment of over Rs 10,000 crore.
Apart from being financed through the US Exim Bank, the project drew participation by vendors from diverse countries- GE (US), Hamon (Belgium), Hyundai (Korea) and Xian Electric (China), the company statement said.
Keywords: Reliance Power, Samalkot plant, electricity generation, gas allocation
