NEW DELHI: NTPC is to acquire the beleaguered KSK Mahanadi power station in Chattisgarh, one of India’s largest single-site greenfield projects with proposed 3,600 MW capacity, making it the state-run utility’s second acquisition of a stressed asset.
People in the know said the investment in the project has been valued at Rs 5,000 crore but declined to indicate NTPC’s acquisition price.The project is located in Janjgir-Champa district of Chhattisgarh.
KSK Mahanadi came under corporate insolvency resolution process in April 2022 after it defaulted on Rs 21, 760 crore loans in March 2018. Adani Power had in 2019 shown interest in acquiring the project but bailed as UP, the project’s main customer, reduced tariff.
NTPC had in September 2022 acquired Jhabua Power’s 600 MW Seoni plant in Madhya Pradesh for Rs 925 crore as part of a plan to acquire stranded assets to meet its long-term capacity addition target of 7,000 GW.
KSK Mahanadi was among the 40 GW stressed and non-performing capacity identified in March 2018 by a special parliamentary committee. This included 34 coal-fired power projects with an estimated debt of Rs 1.7 lakh crore.
KSK Mahanadi was launched with a capacity of 1,800 MW (megawatt), which was doubled as additional coal supply became available. China’s Shandong Electric has the contract for equipment.
But soon after the first two units of 600 MW each was commissioned in 2013 and 2014, the project faced financial crunch and availability the Supreme Court cancelled all coal block allocations in the Coalgate case. The company ha
This left the remaining four units, which were to be commissioned in 2017-2018, stranded. The commissioning date was extended In July 2016 to 2018-2020 for Unit-III and IV, while completion of Unit-V and VI was labelled as “uncertain.”
The project had tied up coal 7 million tonne coal annually for the first phase from GMDC’s Morga-II mine and a similar quantity for the second phase from GIDC’s Gare Pelma-III mine. It also has linkages from Coal India Ltd. State-run transmission entity PowerGrid has a bulk power purchase agreement.
The Central Electricity Authority (CEA), an advisory body to the power ministry, has stated that India expects its annual power demand to grow at more than 7% over five years ending March 2027. This is nearly double the growth rate of 4% seen during the five years till March 2022.
People in the know said the investment in the project has been valued at Rs 5,000 crore but declined to indicate NTPC’s acquisition price.The project is located in Janjgir-Champa district of Chhattisgarh.
KSK Mahanadi came under corporate insolvency resolution process in April 2022 after it defaulted on Rs 21, 760 crore loans in March 2018. Adani Power had in 2019 shown interest in acquiring the project but bailed as UP, the project’s main customer, reduced tariff.
NTPC had in September 2022 acquired Jhabua Power’s 600 MW Seoni plant in Madhya Pradesh for Rs 925 crore as part of a plan to acquire stranded assets to meet its long-term capacity addition target of 7,000 GW.
KSK Mahanadi was among the 40 GW stressed and non-performing capacity identified in March 2018 by a special parliamentary committee. This included 34 coal-fired power projects with an estimated debt of Rs 1.7 lakh crore.
KSK Mahanadi was launched with a capacity of 1,800 MW (megawatt), which was doubled as additional coal supply became available. China’s Shandong Electric has the contract for equipment.
But soon after the first two units of 600 MW each was commissioned in 2013 and 2014, the project faced financial crunch and availability the Supreme Court cancelled all coal block allocations in the Coalgate case. The company ha
This left the remaining four units, which were to be commissioned in 2017-2018, stranded. The commissioning date was extended In July 2016 to 2018-2020 for Unit-III and IV, while completion of Unit-V and VI was labelled as “uncertain.”
The project had tied up coal 7 million tonne coal annually for the first phase from GMDC’s Morga-II mine and a similar quantity for the second phase from GIDC’s Gare Pelma-III mine. It also has linkages from Coal India Ltd. State-run transmission entity PowerGrid has a bulk power purchase agreement.
The Central Electricity Authority (CEA), an advisory body to the power ministry, has stated that India expects its annual power demand to grow at more than 7% over five years ending March 2027. This is nearly double the growth rate of 4% seen during the five years till March 2022.