Even as the first 800-MW unit of 4,000-MW Mundra Ultra Mega Power Project (UMPP) of Tata Power achieved full capacity utilisation, the company said the project would encounter ‘uncertainty' if issues such as tariff hike, re-negotiation of power purchasing agreements (PPAs) and other related issues were not addressed soon.
Tata Power, which had bagged the first UMPP, has already synchronised the first 800-MW unit with the national grid. It is still awaiting a decision by the government on the issue of tariff revision, according to Anil Sardana, Managing Director of Tata Power. “Mundra UMPP is not a non-performing asset. It could become one if no decision is taken on hiking tariffs. We will, however, keep generating power from Mundra as long as we can. When we have no shareholder money left in the balance sheet, nobody will give us coal,” he told The Hindu.
5 States to benefit
The electricity generated from the Mundra project would benefit five states, including Gujarat, Maharashtra, Punjab and Haryana. “We are not asking for any change in the fixed cost, which is the cost on account of plant. We are only saying that whatever I get as a fuel, I toll and convert it into power. I am not asking for any charges for tolling. Change the variable cost for today as well as future so that plus and minuses are all yours,” he pointed out. “We have told the beneficiaries that if you can't pay this tariff, you say that you don't need this power. We will the sell it to somebody else,” Mr. Sardana said. The Indonesian Government's new law requires benchmarking of coal sales to an index-based price linked to global rates. This move has pushed prices of the dry fuel very high.
