Tamil Nadu is likely to get 617 MW of additional power from the Neyveli Lignite Corporation by March 2014, according to B. Surender Mohan, Chairman-cum-Managing Director, NLC.
He told a press conference here on Monday that from the NTPL project, a joint venture of the NLC and the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation, being set up at Tuticorin, the State would get 387 MW and another 230 MW would come from the Thermal Power Station-II Expansion in Neyveli.
Mr. Mohan said the commissioning of the Thermal Power Station-II Expansion project had been delayed owing to technical snag in the plant.
The Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd that had erected the unit had been attending to the problem. As far as the Jayamkondam project, the NLC was not in the picture, he said.
The proposed project was facing problems relating to land acquisition and displacement of large population.
Mr. Mohan said the Tangedco owed Rs. 3,188 crore (as on February 25, 2013) to the NLC for the supply of electricity for the past 12 months.
However, it paid Rs. 1,000 crore last month (March) and promised to pay another Rs 1,000 crore in April. As of now, the total outstanding amount from Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and the Union Territory of Puducherry was in the order of Rs. 4,696 crore.
He admitted that the delayed realisation of amount had affected the investment prospects of the NLC but the new projects would not be suffered on account of this because it had already tied up with the banks.
The NLC has achieved the highest ever quantum of lignite excavation and electricity generation (since its inception) in the just-concluded financial year 2012-2013, Mr. Mohan said.
He said from April 2012 to March 2013, it had generated 1,990.18 crore units of electricity and excavated 2.62 crore tonnes of lignite, far exceeding the targets fixed for the period.
He said the NLC had registered significant growths in lignite mining (6.54 per cent), gross power generation (5.92 per cent) and in export of power (6.52 per cent).
