Khedar power project schedule shortest in the country

Hisar, Aug 31 (UNI) The commissioning schedule of the 1,200 MW Rajiv Gandhi Thermal Power Project Khedar (Hisar) was shortest in the country, Financial Commissioner and Principal Secretary (Power), Ashok Lavasa said here today.

While presiding over the review meeting of construction activities of the thermal project here, Mr Lavasa said that a project of this magnitude took at least 39 to 42 months for commissioning.

However, for this project, an aggressive commissioning schedule of 35 to 38 months has been envisaged and its first unit of 600 MW capacity is likely to be commissioned within 34-35 months after start of its construction work.

The first unit is scheduled to be commissioned in December, 2009 and the second uni of the same capacity will come on bars in March, 2010.

The state would get 288 lakh units of electricity daily from these two units. This is the first project in the northern region to be awarded Mega Project status with attached benefits under the mega project policy of Government of India.

This will result in reduction of project cost and inter-alia lower cost of generation and tariff.

He said that the present peak demand of power in Haryana was around 5,000 MW and at the growth rate of 14 per cent, the demand forecast is estimated at 8,362 MW in the year 2009-10 and 10,867 MW by 2011-12, as the state had a faster economic growth rate. The state government has taken a number of initiatives to ensure additional generation of power during the 11th Five Year Plan to bridge the gap between demand and availability in the State.

As part of the state sector projects, besides Hisar thermal, a 600 MW coal based thermal power project is being set up at Yamuna Nagar. The first unit of this project will be completed by November, 2007 and the second would be commissioned by February, 2008.

Speaking on the occasion, Mrs Jyoti Arora, Managing Director, Haryana Power Generation Corporation said Haryana was exploring possibilities of setting up of a pet coke based power plant of around 250 MW capacity. For this, expression of interest has been invited and offers of seven firms were being evaluated.

Nuclear power was yet another option being explored by the state government. A suitable site has been identified in Fatehabad District for setting up a 2,800 MW nuclear power plant and the matter was being pursued with Centre, she said.

UNI