The Maharashtra Cabinet chaired by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Thursday approved the development of a supercritical coal power plant with generation capacity of 13,20 mw (660×2) at Koradi by the state Maharashtra State Power Generation Company (MahaGenco). The project entails an investment of Rs 10,625 crore of which government’s equity would be Rs 2,125 crore in five years while MahaGenco would raise Rs 8,500 crore from financial institutions including Rural Electrification Corporation and Power Finance Corporation.
According to the energy department official, the first unit of 660 mw will come up in 45 months and the second in 51 months. The proposed project with 1,320 mw generation capacity would make up the generation capacity of 12,50 mw as the projects with that capacity would be closed down.
MahaGenco’s present capacity is around 13,500 mw and it is expected to add another 3,000 mw through thermal and solar power projects. Of the 27 plants, MahaGenco’s 12 plants are 25 year old and about 36% plans will be 25 year old by 2030. Six plants from Bhusawal, Nasik and Chandrapur will be 45 years old. Therefore, the government has taken a conscious decision to add new capacity with modern technology as the capacity addition through renewable energy won’t be sufficient to meet the rising energy requirement which would increase to 2,56,000 million units by 2030 from the present level of 1,45,000 million units.
The official said that Koradi currently has eight units 660 mw each and the proposed units of 660 mw each would come there only as it has enough land and water availability. In addition, coal supply would come from the Western Coalfields, Singareni Collieries and Garje Palma coal mines
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