Lanco Infratech’s Udupi Power Corporation Ltd, a company subsidiary, has commenced the commercial operation of its 600 MW unit II located at Udupi in Karnataka. It has informed that the principal buyers of power, the Karnataka Government, have established 400 KV transmission line to evacuate power from the project. The company had synchronised the second unit a month ago with the grid and was waiting for the completion of 400 KV transmission line between Nandikur and Hassan.
According to Panduranga Rao, Director and CEO, UPCL, the power project was completed about one and a half years ago and there was no evacuation of power due to the absence of 400 KV transmission line. UPCL has set up a 1,200 MW (600×2) thermal power project at Nandikur in Udupi district at a cost of Rs 5,800 crore. About 76 per cent of the project cost is debt borrowed from a consortium of bankers and financial institutions led by Power Finance Corporation (PFC).The 180 km long Transmission Line has been set up at a cost of Rs 560 crore. Presently, both the units of the Project are in Operation and an average of 1,100 Mw of power is supplied to Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Limited (KPTCL) grid at Hassan. The company is supplying power at Rs 3.15 per unit to the state as per the power purchase agreement signed between the company and the state government.
UPCL is the first thermal power project in Karnataka that uses imported coal. It imports coal from a consortium of coal companies in Indonesia through New Mangalore Port. According to energy department sources, Karnataka is currently procuring 750 MW of power every day from private producers to tide over the shortage in the state.
The total installed capacity of power in the state amounts to 12,511 MW and the demand for power is increasing an average 10-15 per cent per annum. The total electricity supply made available in the state during 2010-11 procured from various sources was 47,270 million units. Recent data suggests that electricity supply up to the end of December 2011 was 29,376 million units. The deficits in supply are being met through short term purchases from other states and also through energy exchange. The short term import of energy during 2010-11 was 5757.47 million units and imports till December 2011 was 2,796.41 million units.
With these developments, both the units of the project are in operation. The company now has about 4,000 MW of power plants capacity under operation, 6,048 MW under construction and another 7,133 MW under various stages of development.
