Facing a power crunch due to strong demand, Tamil Nadu on Wednesday invited National and International investors to set up power plants in the State.
Inviting investors to set up power plants in Thermal, Wind and Solar energy sectors in the State, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa said in a statement that her government would provide ‘an enabling environment’ for setting up their plants on a fast track mode.
After handing over the Letter of Award to Lanco Infratech Ltd, which emerged as a successful bidder, to develop Gare Pelma-II Coal Block in Chhattisgarh, she said the company would set up an on-site Thermal power plant and generate power for Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh.
For this purpose, Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation Ltd (TANGEDCO) and the Maharashtra State Mining Corporation jointly floated a company - “Maha-Tail Collieries Ltd” and LANCO Infratech Ltd emerged as a successful bidder.
From the energy produced, the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board would get 630 MW at a cost of Rs 1.99 per unit while the Maharashtra State Mining Corporation would get 23 per cent of the coal produced. Chhattisgarh would get 740 MW.
Ms. Jayalalithaa said her Government planned to add 23,140 MW to the present installed capacity of 10,237 MW during the next five years. “Of this, 15,140 MW will be through thermal energy, 5,000 MW through wind energy and 3,000 MW through solar energy“.
The Union Coal Ministry has allocated Gare Pelma-II Coal Block in Chhattisgarh, a coal reserve of about 768 million tons, to Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra to develop the mine, generate power or coal.
The share of the coal produced from this mine to TANGEDCO would be 592 million tons and Maharashtra State Mining Corporation 176 million tons, the statement added.
