Sembcorp launches 2,640MW power project in Nellore

Sembcorp Industries, a global energy, water and marine group, launched a 2,640-MW power project here on Saturday. The Sembcorp Gayatri Power Complex can meet 40 per cent of the daily energy demand of entire Andhra Pradesh.

Built at a total cost of ₹20,000 crore, the power complex in this coastal district is the largest foreign direct investment-driven project in the thermal power sector in India, till date.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu inaugurated the complex which houses two 1,320MW super critical coal-fired power plants. The first plant — Thermal Powertech Corporation India Ltd (TPCIL) — commenced full operations last September. The second plant, NCC Power Projects Ltd (NCPPL), is expected to be fully operational by the end of this year.

The huge complex will enable Nellore to become India’s largest power capacity generation centre in a single district, an official of Thermal Powertech Corporation, a Sembcorp-Gayatri company, told BusinessLine.

Nellore, located nearly 200 km from Chennai, now has eleven power plants generating about 15,550 MW. Some of the other power plants in the district include AP Genco, Meenakshi, Simhapuri, Reliance and Kineta.

The Nellore model is a sustainable one, providing abundant power with high ambient air quality, said Prakash Javadekar, Union Minister for Environmental, Forest and Climate Change.

Port advantage

The presence of Krishnapatnam port has made a huge difference to the Nellore district and is the main reason for many power plants in the district, said Piyush Goyal, Minister of State with independent charge for Power, Coal and New and Renewable Energy.

For the SGC complex alone, 10 to 11 million tonnes of coal will come from the port annually. Coal from the port travels the 7-km distance to the plant via conveyor belt, the company official said.

Ang Kong Hua, Chairman, Sembcorp Industries, said, with the inauguration of the complex, the group now has over 3,500 MW of thermal and renewable power capacity in operation and under development in seven states.

The correspondent visited the project at the invitation of Sembcorp.