NEW DELHI: All private companies have walked out of the bidding process for two ultra-mega power projects in Odisha and Tamil Nadu, leaving state-run generation utility NTPC as the sole contender for the plants entailing an investment of about Rs 50,000 crore.

Adani Power, Jindal Power, Sterlite and GMR have written to PFC Consulting, the agency advising the government on the projects, saying they were pulling out of the bidding process due to terms to be too stringent for viability.

As Madhya Pradesh hopes to generate over 2 Gw of solar power in the next few years, state-run NTPC is planning to play a major part in it. In an interview with Sanjeeb Mukherjee, NTPC Chairman Arup Roy Choudhury said the company will invest Rs 5,000 crore in a solar power plant in Rewa district over the next few years. Edited excerpts:

NTPC has been engaged in Madhya Pradesh for many years and has been one of the oldest investors in the state. How do you plan to expand?

Tata Power reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 260 crore in the last financial year, its second highest in the last 10 years. Also its consolidated debt at Rs 40,173 crore, 3.24 times its net worth, was the highest in more than a decade.

In fact Tata Power would rather want to forget the past three years of its century-old existence. "We should be closing this year at a debt-equity ratio of 2.6," said Anil Sardana, managing director of Tata Power, in a recent interaction, displaying a resolve to fight back.

National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) and Gujarat government run Gujarat State Electricity Corporation Ltd (GSECL) today inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to swap one million tonne of coal. The arrangement is likely to help both the companies save Rs 378 crore per one million tonne.

The agreement between NTPC and GSECL has been signed after a proposal for swapping coal was submitted to the Central Government two years back. Recently, the proposal of the Gujarat government was considered and approved by the Narendra Modi-led central government.

The Odisha government has urged central PSUs — NTPC Ltd and Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd (PGCIL) to go ahead with the task of floating tenders for implementation of projects under the Rajeev Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana (RGGVY) in the 12th Plan period (2012-17).

The state government has also clarified its position on agency charges for implementing the projects.

Country’s largest power company NTPC may be forced to tap international solar plant suppliers due to shortage in domestic capacity.

NTPC was laying emphasis on developing a solar power portfolio and had invited tender for 1,000 Mw of solar power project open to only domestic suppliers.

The government's plan to pool imported coal in the event of the Supreme Court cancelling all coal block allocations might make smaller units suffer, while large players such as NTPC could benefit from it.

"NTPC is already blending imported coal with domestically-procured coal. So, if the government pools imported coal to make up for the domestic scarcity, it will benefit us. Hopefully, the pooled price offered by the government would be lower than our current pooled price," said an NTPC official.

National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) has curtailed the power it had been supplying to Chhattisgarh plunging the state to face electricity crises.

The country’s largest power producer, NTPC, has two major power projects in Chhattisgarh. While the Korba power station had an installed capacity of 2600-Mw, the Sipat Power Project in Bilaspur district had been generating 2980-Mw power. The state had been getting about 1100-Mw of power from the NTPC.

NTPC’s largest power plant at Vindhyachal in Madhya Pradesh with a capacity of 4,260 Mw is facing shut-down due to paucity of coal supply from Northern Coalfields. The company said it would stop operations if fuel shortage continues.

Since early this month, two units of 210 Mw and 500 Mw have not been operating due to unavailability of contracted coal quantity. The rest of the 2,860 Mw is running at half the capacity.

NTPC is keen to join hands with Coal India Ltd (CIL) and Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) to augment its generation capacity and capability, which have been hit by coal shortage.

Minutes of a July meeting of an advisory group on integrated power development, headed by Suresh Prabhu, said, “NTPC’s performance was affected in recent years, and continues to be so, by the general situation of the coal shortage in the country. While this is true, it is also a fact that NTPC could develop the coal blocks allotted to it from 2004.”

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