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Puducherry Electricity Department signs agreement with NTPC

TO AUGMENT POWER SUPPLY: Executive Director (Commercial) of NTPC Indrajit Kapoor (second from left), Industries and Electricity Minister V. Vaithilingam and Secretary for Electricity A. C. Varma at the signing of the Power Purchase Agreement in Puducherry on Tuesday.

PUDUCHERRY: The Electricity Department on Tuesday signed a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) for purchase of 50 MW of power from the Simhadri Thermal Power Station in Andhra Pradesh. The signatories to the agreement were Indrajit Kapoor, Executive Director (Commercial) from NTPC, and A.C. Verma, Secretary of the Electricity Department, Government of Puducherry.

Minister for Industries and Electricity V. Vaithilingam, in whose presence the agreement was signed, told reporters here that the tentative cost of power from this project would be around 228 paise a unit.

Mr. Indrajit said the first phase of the Simhadri II Power Plant with a capacity of 500 MW would be commissioned by 2010-2011 and that NTPC had already signed PPA with the Governments of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

“Though various State Governments have given their requirements, the Centre will decide the quantum to be supplied. This will be based on the Gadgil Formula where the consumption pattern and Central Plan Assistance are taken into consideration,” he added.

Mr. Vaithilingam said the Government would sign another PPA with the NTPC for 50 more MW of power from a thermal power plant coming up at Vallur near Chennai. This power plant is a joint venture between the NTPC and the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board with a capacity of 1000 MW.

“Our present demand is approximately 400 MW and in the next Five Year Plan the projected requirement would be around 650-700 MW. There are many more PPAs in the pipeline including one with the Koodankulam Atomic Power Station under the National Atomic Power Corporation,” he added.

The Minister said the department was facing a severe financial crunch and did not have funds to purchase transformers, lines and even electrical fittings. “In the last Five Year Plan we were allocated Rs. 167 crore of which we received only Rs. 153 crore. Normally in every Five Year Plan the allocation is increased by about 3 to 5 per cent based on the Cost of Price Index and if it had been done that way we would have been given Rs 200 crore.”

He said lack of funds affected the development of infrastructure. This was forcing the Government to borrow from outside agencies. “We are presently preparing a proposal through a consultant to create infrastructure for distribution lines. We will seek a loan of around Rs 150 crore from the Rural Electricity Development Corporation by January. The repayment will be through revolving fund and we will not burden the consumers with an increase in tariff. When we increase capacity there will be more utilisation, which will lead to an increase in revenue,” he explained.

The Minister, who also holds the Agriculture portfolio, said paddy cultivators could collect the arrears of support price for paddy from the Market Committee offices by producing bills up to June. They would be paid Rs. 3,000 a hectare as support price.

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