Reliance Power to start work on Chitrangi project by October

Reliance Power, an Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group company, will start work on the 4,000-MW Chitrangi power project in Madhya Pradesh by October this year. The company is already executing three ultra mega power projects, or UMPP, of 4,000 MW capacity each.The project, which will use incremental coal coming out from captive mines of RPL’s Sasan UMPP, has received all important environment and defence clearances recently and majority of the land for the project has also been transferred to the company.

“Chitrangi is another 4,000 MW project that was offered to us by the Madhya Pradesh government in 2007. We have now decided to put the project on fast track as all the necessary government clearances have been obtained,” said RPL CEO J P Chalasani.

The project is yet to achieve financial closure but Reliance Power expects to commission it by early part of the 12th Plan (2012-17 ) along with its other two UMPPs at Sasan and Krishnapatnam.

Reliance Power has already bagged three 4,000 MW UMPP’s at Sasan, Krishnapatnam and Tilaiya. Under current government regulation it cannot bid for another ultra project before completing work on at least one of these projects. Chitrangi will be fourth 4,000 MW project under RPL fold, but it does not have a UMPP status.An empowered group of ministers has earlier cleared use of this incremental coal and the decision has now been notified in the official gazette.

Sasan and Chitrangi projects are expected to consume 15-16 million tonne of coal each annually.

As per the mining plan submitted by Reliance Power, the three captive coal blocks of Sasan -- Moher , Moher Almori extension and Chhatrasal blocks -- could produce upto 25-26 million tonne of coal. This would mean at least 10 million tonne of coal would be surplus from these mines for use in Chitrangi project. Chitrangi could also use surplus coal from captive blocks of Tilaiya UMPP also bagged by RPL subject to the coal block getting environmental clearance. The Chitrangi project will come up over an area of over 3,500 acres with a total investment of about Rs 18,500 crore. Like Sasan, the project will also be based on supercritical technology using six units of 660 MW each. RPL has already placed the project to an EPC contractor and equipment orders have also been made.