The Union Power Ministry on Wednesday said the request for qualification (RFQ) for four upcoming Ultra Mega Power Projects (UMPPs) in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Orissa is likely to be issued by January 2010 to enable the timely implementation of the flagship programme aimed at enhancing generation capacity during the XI and XII Plans.
The request for qualification for two ultra mega power projects in Orissa, and one each in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu is expected by January 2010, Power Secretary H. S. Brahma told reporters on the sidelines of a FICCI event here. Each of the four projects would have a capacity of 4,000 MW.
The Power Ministry was already in touch with the State governments for finalisation of the sites and its nodal agency Power Finance Corporation (PFC) had already carried out a feasibility study of these sites. The availability of sites in Orissa would be finalised by the State government by the end of this month.
The Centre has so far awarded four ultra mega power projects, out of which Reliance Power bagged three and one project was awarded to Tata Power.
Tata Power is executing the Mundra project in Gujarat, which is scheduled for commissioning in the XI and XII Plans. Reliance Power is developing three such projects — Sasan in Madhya Pradesh, Krishnapatnam in Andhra Pradesh and Tilaiya in Jharkhand. The Power Ministry has set a target of adding 78,577 MW of power by the end of the current Plan period (2007-12).
The government plans to add substantial amount of electricity through these power projects, which are likely to come up during the XII Plan.
These projects entail an investment of about Rs. 18,000 crore each and will be funded at a debt equity ratio of 70:30.
