The Puducherry Electricity Department (PED) will procure 100 MW of power from NLC India Ltd’s (NLCIL) thermal power plant coming up in Odisha through a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA). The exact quantum of power allocation from this project will be as per the decision of the Ministry of Power, Government of India. The 2,400 MW NLC Talabira Thermal Power Project (NTTPP) at Tareikela, Jharsuguda district in Odisha is expected to be commissioned during 2025-26. Electricity Minister A. Namassivayam presided over a recent function to sign the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) between Shaji John Director (Finance) of NLCIL and T. Arun, Power Secretary in the presence of T. Chanemougam Superintending Engineer and Head of Puducherry Electricity Department, senior officials of PED and NLCIL. The NLCIL had originally proposed a 1,800 MW Sirkali power project in Nagapattinam district of Tamil Nadu but the project fell through due to issues in the purchase of the required lands. As an alternative, the NLCIL is setting up the (3x800 MW) plant in Odisha. The PED estimates that as the NTTPP is a pit head power project, the cost of power would be economical and the tentative unit rate is ₹3.06/unit. The availability of power from this power project would be beneficial in meeting the future power requirement of the Union Territory of Puducherry, the PED said. As the PED does not have its own generation, the demand-supply management necessitates procuring power from various Central Generating Stations (CGS), neighbouring State utilities and the State-owned Puducherry Power Corporation Limited (PPCL), which runs a 32.5 MW gas-based combined cycle power plant in the Karaikal region — the entire power generated from PPCL is consumed within the Karaikal region. In its business plan for 2022-23 and the subsequent two fiscal years submitted to the Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission, the Puducherry Electricity Department enivsaged a total PPAs target of 3,239.12 million units (MUs) for 2022-23.
