Power To UP People To Cost Re 1 Less With Ultra-Critical Units

UP Govt, NTPC will put up two ultra-super critical power plants in 50:50 partnership

LUCKNOW, July 11 (The CONNECT) – Yogi’s Uttar Pradesh Government hopes to smash power tariff by one rupee a unit with the commissioning of two thermal power projects at Obra in Sonbhadra district.

The prevailing power tariff in UP is Rs 6.50 per kwh.

The government on Tuesday approved the two ‘Obra D’ thermal power projects of 800MW each to be built at the cost of Rs 18,000 by the NTPC as part of the agreement signed during the Global Investors Summit held in Lucknow in February.

The specialty of Obra D thermal power plants is that it will be the first ever ultra super critical unit in the state. The plant will boast of state-of-the-art technology and high efficiency, with low consumption of coal, bringing down the cost of power generation, which will lead to slashing of electricity rates in UP.

Urban Development and Energy Minister AK Sharma told media that the consumption of electricity was increasing day by day in the state.

UP’s current capacity in terms of thermal power generation stands at 7000 MW and the two plants will help boost it by almost 25 percent.

“We hope that this plant becomes an energy hub not only of the state, but of the entire country,” Sharma said. The consumption of coal will be lower at the new plants because of use of advanced technologies while transportation cost of the coal will also drop significantly due to close location of NCL coalmines.

This will reduce substantially the cost of production at the plant. At present, the State buys electricity at Rs.5.50 per unit, while from this plant we will be able to buy electricity at Rs.4.79 per unit. “Thus, we will be able to provide cheap electricity to consumers at Re 1 per unit,” the minister added.