Sterlite Energy to build new power plant in Punjab

Mumbai: Sterlite Energy, a Vedanta Resources Group company, will set up a 1,980-MW power plant in Punjab with an investment of Rs 9,000 to Rs 10,000 crore.

The Punjab Chief Minister, Mr Prakash Singh Badal, will lay the foundation stone for the project at Banawala village in Mansa district.

“The largest coal-based thermal power plant in Punjab will be commissioned in three phases of 660 MW each, of which the first phase is expected to go onstream in 48 months, while the second and third phases will take about four months each,” said a company official.

The project will be completed in April 2013.

The company has acquired the 2,113-acre free-hold land required for the project and would sell the entire power produced to Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB). The project site is about 45 km from Bhatinda and about 220 km from Chandigarh.

Sterlite Energy, which was selected by PSEB through an international competitive bidding, has floated a special purpose vehicle, Talwandi Sabo Thermal Power Plant, for executing the project on build, own and operate (BOO) basis.

The requisite coal will be supplied through linkages by Mahanadi Coal Ltd and water will flow in from Bheni Canal, which is about 20 km away from the plant.

Vedanta Group, through Sterlite Energy, will invest about Rs 8,360 crore to build a 2,400-MW thermal coal-based power facility (comprising four units of 600-MW each) at Jharsuguda in Orissa.

The project is expected to be progressively commissioned from December 2009, it said.