Telangana: Largest solar floating plant at NTPC Ramagundam by May

The engineering, procurement and construction cost of the project is Rs 423 crore, CV Anand, Regional Executive Director (South), NTPC, told media persons on Wednesday.

Hyderabad: Telangana, which is close to being a power surplus State, will see capacity addition of another 1,700 MW by March next year with the commissioning of three power plants at a cost of Rs 11,022 crore.

The capacity addition includes a 100 MW floating solar PV project at NTPC Ramagundam, which will be the largest single location floating solar project that is expected to be ready by May this year. The engineering, procurement and construction cost of the project is Rs 423 crore, CV Anand, Regional Executive Director (South), NTPC, told media persons on Wednesday.

The remaining 1,600 MW will be from the two units of 800 MW each of Telangana Super Thermal Power Project (TSTPP), also coming up at Ramagundam. Unit I is to be commissioned by January 2022 and Unit II will be commissioned two months later in March 2020. The approved cost of this project is Rs 10,598.98 crore, he said.

NTPC Southern Region has a total installed capacity of 9,125 MW through coal, gas/liquid fuel and solar PV including 1,500 MW through JV NTECL Vallur. It is operating a 2,600 MW plant at Ramagundam as well as a 10 MW solar.

Anand said the solar floating solar plant is coming up in about 450 acre of water surface area in the reservoir. “The 100 MW floating solar at Ramagundam being set up under non-PPA mode is the largest in the country,” he said, adding that Nagarjuna Sagar and Srisailam also offer immense potential to take up floating solar plants. The power generated from the floating plant will be bundled with thermal power to make the latter affordable. At the national level, it has plans to add 1,280 MW in solar power generation.

With respect to TSTPP, the PPA has been signed with TSSPDCL and 85 per cent of the capacity is allocated to Telangana. The remaining 15 per cent is unallocated as of now. However, the Telangana Government is making efforts to get this 15 per cent also in view of the rising power demand in the State, he said.

The TSTTP has been delayed by a few months due to shortage of labour due to Covid. Following the nationwide lockdown, construction works at the TSTPP were put on hold from March 25 last year and were resumed on May 4. With a lot of labour back, the works are on track and the Unit I will be commissioned in January next year, he said.

To a query on possible cost escalation due to the delay, the top official said the impact can be quantified only on completion. Both Unit I and II are part of Phase I of the project. On a query on Phase II of the project, he said it has not got the corporate clearance as of now. He clarified that the Phase II of the project is not abandoned and was waiting for certain clearances only.

On dues from the Discoms, Anand said various State Governments have been honouring their commitments. “The dues are dynamic,” he said.

NTPC Ramagundam has developed geopolymer coarse aggregates with fly ash. It can be used in building construction. A 1.45 km long cement-free fly ash based-geopolymer road has been laid inside Telangana project, he said. NTPC also developed nano concrete aggregate which will also increase the use of fly ash. It is installing Flue Gas Desulfurization (FGD) units at at several locations including Ramagundam for sulphur dioxide (SOx) emission control as part of the efforts to comply with revised emission norms.

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