Sunday, April 19, 2009

BSEB demands long-term coal linkage to Bihar


Languishing for want of power, backward state of Bihar has approached the Central Electricity Authority for ensuring coal on long-term basis for its three upcoming mega power projects that could help add about 4,000 MW capacity for the state during the 12th plan period.

"We would request allocation of long-term coal linkage for the power plants being set up in Bihar on the basis of tariff-based competitive bidding and inclusion in the XIIth Plan Period (2012-17)," Bihar State Electricity Board (BSEB) said in a letter to the Power Ministry.

BSEB has demanded long-term coal linkage for the 1,320 MW each Lakhisarai Thermal Power Project, Buxar Thermal Power Project and Pirpainti Thermal Power Project in the state.

It added that substantial progress has already been achieved in the project development activities and we are proceeding an a fast track manner towards implementation of the said projects.

The identification and demarcation of sites has been done, the technical studies, including topographical survey, geological investigations, detailed project reports (DPRs) are complete.

The Ministry of Environment and Forest has approved the project site and terms of reference for environment studies and adequate water linkage has also been provided to the projects.

Almost all the pre-operational activities have been completed for all the three project sites except the allocation of coal linkage, which is a pre-requisite for initiating the publication of Request for Qualification (RFQ) document as per the competitive bidding guidelines of the Power Ministry, it said.

The inter-state sale of power has also been tied-up with the states of Haryana and Assam, it said.

BSEB proposed for coal linkages for these three projects and two more projects namely Barauni and Muzaffarpur thermal power stations in a meeting with the Planning Commission, Coal Ministry and CEA last year.

The move of allocating coal linkages to these projects will move forward towards the success of the projects and contribute in the enhancement of availability and self-reliance of power in the state.

The total installed power capacity of the state of Bihar is 1,629 MW, out of which 1,532 MW comes from coal and 66MW from hydro power.

No comments: