Companies that are in race for Cheyyur Power Project

NTPC, Jindal Power and Adani Power are among eight companies to have responded to the proposed Rs.24,200 crore ultra mega power project at Cheyyur in Tamil Nadu, signaling a good investor response, the Power Finance Corp said.

Larsen & Toubro, GMR Energy, Sterlite Infraventures and JSW Energy have also submitted technical bids for the project based on imported coal, it said. CLP India is the only foreign company to be in fray for the project. Companies submitted the technical bids for the 4,000-MW project.

Power Finance Corp, bid coordinator for UMPPs, will later call price bids from the qualifying companies. Tata Power, which is operating an imported coal-based ultra mega power project at Mundra in Gujarat, did not bid. The PFC statement said the response highlights the high degree of comfort and confidence the investors perceive owing to the state of preparedness of the project.

It said that, environment clearance, forest clearance and water linkage for the project are in place and land for the project is expected to be in possession shortly. The Central Electricity Regulatory Commission has reserved judgments on tariff hike pleas made by Tata Power and Adani Power for their imported coal based projects of 4,000-MW in Gujarat. The companies claim that rising costs of coal due to regulatory changes in Indonesia that meets 50% of India’s coal imports have made operating thermal power projects economically unviable.

Private power companies had earlier opposed the new bidding norms for ultra mega power projects that do not give companies ownership of land and coalmines. The companies had also opposed clauses related to sourcing made-in India equipment, cap on fuel charges and intrusive role of independent engineers.

PFC received bids from nine companies for a domestic coal-based ultra mega power project at Bedhabahal in Odisha. PFC has offered the two ultra mega power projects to developers under the new bid guidelines.