Tata completes project ahead of schedule, awaits transmission lines

Power Grid Corp is racing to build transmission lines for Tata Power’s ultra mega power plant in Mundra, whose first unit is ready to start generation three months ahead.

The start-up date was originally planned in the middle of September.

Power Grid normally builds transmission lines on schedule and often has to wait impatiently for the power plant to start generating electricity.

For Tata Power also, it will set up the promised infrastructure on schedule, officials said. “It is one of those happy unusual circumstances, when a generation unit comes ahead of schedule,” Power Secretary Uma Shankar said. He said Power Grid would build the lines by the target date. He said the ministry had taken up a special initiative to work out temporary arrangements to transmit the electricity as soon as possible.

Tata Power’s 4,000 mw ultra mega power project at Mundra is amongst the first of the set that have been planned as part of India large power capacity addition programme. This first unit that is ready to begin its test runs will generate 830 mw at one go, fired by imported coal from Indonesia.

In the case of Tata Power’s Mundra project, Powergrid had offered a plan earlier to transmit some part of the power of up to 250 mw to the consumer states. “But Tata Power insisted on having a line that could take the entire load and had signed on a target date of September 15,” he said while assuring that the company will meet the commitment.