Ending long drawn battle, Orissa government and US Power utility, AES Corporation have decided to go ahead with third and fourth units at Ib Valley near Banaharpal in Angul district.

In September last year, the Cabinet headed by chief minister of Orissa accorded its approval to the revised expansion proposal of Orissa Power Generation Corporation for setting up third and fourth units. The OPGC a joint venture company Orissa government and US power utility, AES Corporation has a power plant of 2X210 MW power plant at IB Valley.

In a review meeting held both the energy department and AES agreed to finalize the EPC tender in the earliest. Mr Bibek Biswal MD of OPGC said that “Construction will start by the end of first quarter of next fiscal. We are committed to the project. Everything is going smoothly.”

The expansion will see capacity increase of the OPGC’s third and fourth units by 1320 MW (660X 2).

Mr Biswal said that the INR 10,000 crore expansion project and coal mining projects will be completed by 2014.

According to the agreement, the OPGC will offload 50% of power generated from these units to the state grid at the rate fixed by Orissa Electricity Regulatory Commission. However, from the third unit of 660 MW the state will get 264 MW till the fourth unit is commissioned, considering that the plant load factor is expected to be at around 80%. The fourth unit is expected to be commissioned within six months of the commissioning of third unit failing which the OPGC will share 360 MW of power at 80% PLF load with the state grid.

(Sourced from ET)