The winner of the ₹19,422 crore contract for NLC India’s 3x800 MW Talabira thermal power project will be decided on Friday when the price bids will be opened.
As businesslinereported on December 6, 2022, two power equipment manufacturers, BHEL and L&T-MHI, are in the race for the contract.
NLC’s Chairman and Managing Director, M Prasanna Kumar, told businessline today that the turnkey contractor for the “signature project” would be finalised in January.
Further, NLC India has decided to add another 800 MW unit to the project, which will be a 3,200 MW giant when completed.
The project was first designed to be put up at Sirkazhi in Tamil Nadu but was later shifted to Talabira in Odisha to save the cost of transporting coal from Talabira mines to down south. These will be ultra super critical thermal plants.
An ultra-supercritical thermal plant is one in which the temperature and pressure of the steam generated are very high, roughly 600 degrees C and 240 bar. Such plants are more efficient—they produce more power per unit of fuel.
The 2,400 MW is to be shared by Tamil Nadu 1,500 MW, Puducherry 100 MW, Kerala 400 MW and Odisha 400 MW.
Coal from Talabira mines
Meanwhile, NLC has increased coal production from its Talabira mines. In 2023-24, the company will produce 14.4 million tonnes of coal from the mines, against the target of 10 mt. In October 2021, the company said it would increase coal production from Talabira five times, from the then 4 mt.