Dadri power plant well on schedule: Jairam Ramesh

New Delhi, Aug 18 (UNI) Minister of State for Power Jairam Ramesh today said the NTPC's 2x490 MW coal-based power generating units at Dadri in Uttar Pradesh are on schedule and will be commssioned by September 2009 and January 2010 respectively.

Visiting the plant, Mr Ramesh said 90 per cent of the power generated from the units, which are being set up as part of the infrastructure for the Commonwealth Games 2010, will be destined for Delhi and the balance 10 per cent for Uttar Pradesh.

Dadri has already 4x210 MW coal-based units operating for a number of years. In 2007-08, these units achieved the highest PLF of 98.02 per cent in the country.

He said Dadri is one of the few power plants in the country where the PLF is higher the availability factor demonstrating the extraordinary efficiency of management at the plant.

Dadri has also 829 MW of gas-based capacity which is now running at around 72 per cent PLF largely because of the shortfall in the supply of gas.

He said Dadri's greatest accomplishment has been in environmental management which should serve as an example to all other power plants in the country.

Mr Ramesh expressed hope that the best practices evident at Dadri will be replicated in all NTPC plants particularly in regard to project management, risk evaluation-based maintenance and environmental management.

He urged NTPC to explore ways and means of reducing land requirements for its future power plants by going vertical in townships.

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