By: Yogesh Mishra
After Chhattisgarh agreeing to sell 1000 MW power to Telangana and sending it a draft pertaining to power purchase agreement, the newly constituted state has expressed desire to purchase 1000 MW additional power to meet its growing electricity demands. Chhattisgarh’s energy department is said to have sought opinion from the power generation company regarding Telangana’s latest request.
Knowing that scarce electricity might hamper his developmental plans for Telangana, the first thing CM KCR did post bifurcation was to announce to buy power from energy surplus Chhattisgarh and quickly held informal talks over phone to his Chhattisgarh counterpart Raman Singh. Rao’s initiative was followed by arrival of high-level delegation from Telangana led by its principal secretary energy SK Joshi to first held talks with his Chhattisgarh counterpart Aman Singh and then with senior officials of power companies regarding PPA. Considering all factors, Chhattisgarh agreed sell 1000 MW power to Telangana by signing PPA for 15 years.
Soon it prepared a draft and sent to Telangana before finalising the deal. It is learnt that Telangana made some amendments in the draft and sent it again to Chhattisgarh with letter of intention to purchase 2000 MW power – just double of what it had demanded earlier. Sources informed that Chhattisgarh government might accept Telangana’s new offer as it is likely to get additional power from its Marwa Thermal Power Project with 1000 MW capacity (2×500 MW) in village Marwa under Janjgir-Champa district. Besides, half a done other private players are on verge of completing their power projects in State.
According to memorandums of understanding (MoUs), these private players are supposed to provide fixed quota of power to the State while they would be free to sell the remaining amount. However, the power generation in these plants including that of the State government will be delayed as they would not get smooth supply of coal with Supreme Court cancelling a total of 214 coal blocks including theirs recently.
Source: Metro India