Essar Power Limited has recently resumed the commercial operations of Unit I of the 1,200 MW (2×600 MW) Mahan power plant. Essar Power MP Ltd, the operator of the 1200 MW power plant, located in Madhya Pradesh, has secured 3 lakh tonnes of coal through a Government conducted special forward e-auction.
Essar Power MP won a captive coal mine in Tokisud in Jharkhand state in the recent coal auction. Essar has invested over INR 10,000Cr in the 1200 MW Mahan plant which requires an estimated 5.5 MTPA of domestic coal per year and the Tokisud captive coal mine. The company has long-term power purchase agreements and is in the process of securing more such commitments.
Mr Sushil Maroo, Executive Vice Chairman, Essar Power, said: “We are thankful to the Government for making coal available through e-auctions and aligning coal prices to the current market scenario. It has increased the production and supply of coal, which is a welcome move for the power sector and will help other stranded power projects”.
The Government of India’s UDAY (Ujjwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana) scheme provides opportunities for private sector power companies to sign PPAs with the states that have joined the initiative. This will go a long way in meeting India’s objective of affordable round-the-clock power by 2019.