The NTPC-Simhadri thermal power unit at Parawada in Visakhapatnam district is planning to expand its capacity from 2,000 MW to 3,600 MW.
According to A.K Samanta, the group General Manager, there are plans to add two more units of 800 MW apiece. “We have adequate support from the authorities. We wish to acquire land in the adjoining area,” he said in an interview here on Saturday.
He said the company would need 800 acres for the project. It will involve an investment of Rs 5 crore to Rs 6 crore for each megawatt. It will be developed with ultra super critical technology with higher efficiency and less coal consumption and emissions compared to existing technologies followed at various power plants.
He said the NTPC is also in talks with Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd, the Visakhapatnam steel plant, for a joint venture to set up a 250x2 MW power plant on the land belonging to the latter in the city at Ukkunagaram.
Samanta said the NTPC-Simhadri had also decided to set up 20 MW solar energy power plant within the compound. Under CSR, the company had already distributed 48 solar pump sets to social welfare and other residential hostels with net metering facility.
The NTPC-Simhadri is presently generating power at 82 per cent plant load factor (PLF). The plant, at present, needs 30,000 tonnes of coal, of which 50 per cent is sourced from Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd and the rest from Singareni Collieries Co Ltd and through imports.
sarma.rs@thehindu.co.in