Adani Power awaits environ min nod for Bhadreshwar plant

Adani Power Ltd, the power division of Ahmedabad-based Adani group, is awaiting clearances from the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests to
set up its 3,300 mw, Rs15,000 crore power plant at Bhadreshwar in Kutch, Gujarat.

Meanwhile, at its 4,620 mw Mundra plant, the company has synchronised the first supercritical unit of 660 mw on Wednesday.

With this, its coal-fired thermal generation capacity stands at 1980 mw, making it the third-largest power generating company in the private sector after Tata Power and Lanco Infratech.

Gautam Adani, chairman, Adani group, said the 660 mw unit has the distinction of being the world’s first supercritical technology-based project to be certified for carbon credit under the United Nation’s Framework on Climate Change.

“With this historic step, we have achieved an important milestone for our power business. The supercritical technology will make our operation efficient and in turn preserve the environment. We are expecting that the subsequent units will be in operation in rapid succession,” he said.

Adani Power is setting up the Mundra plant with an investment of Rs20,000 crore. The plant consists of four units of 330 mw and five units of 660 mw, which are based on energy-efficient and environment-friendly supercritical technology. On completion in March 2012, the project will become the largest coal-fired station in India and one of the top five in the world. The financial closure for all units has already been achieved.

Adani Power has plans to implement various projects totalling 16,500 mw by 2015 and 20,000 mw by 2020. “We remain confident that the 20,000 mw will be created much ahead of the target year of 2020,” said Adani.

Meanwhile, in another announcement, Adani said the Mundra Port and Special Economic Zone (MPSEZ), the group’s port and logistics arm, has successfully commenced operations at its 60 million tonnes (mt) fully mechanised coal handling terminal at Mundra. With this, MPSEZ’s total handling capacity at Mundra stands at more than 115 mt.

The fully mechanised facility will supply coal not only to the 4,620 mw project of Adani Power and Tata Power’s ultra mega power plant of 4,000 mw, but also to other power plants in the northern and western hinterland.

“The 60 million tonne capacity is being expanded to 100 million tonne with work on the incremental fourth berth getting underway,” he said.