The FINANCIAL — Tata Power, India’s largest integrated power utility, through its wholly owned subsidiary Coastal Gujarat Power (CGPL) has developed India’s first 4,000MW Mundra Ultra Mega Power Project (UMPP) currently catering to two percent of India’s total power needs.
The project is among the world’s largest greenfield thermal generation projects and the most efficient thermal power plant of the country, according to Tata Sons.
The total generation from the plant till March 31, 2013 has touched 12,440MUs, and going forward the plant is expected to contribute more than 26,000 million kWh to the beneficiary states annually. Mundra UMPP supplies power to five states in India – Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab and Maharashtra.
The project was completed in a record time of one year from the date of commissioning of the first 800MW unit in March 2012. The average gap between synchronisation of two units has been 3.5 months, which is better than the baseline schedule of four months and is much better than the five months provided in the original PPA.
The 4,000MW Mundra UMPP heralds the entry of 800MW super-critical boiler technology in India, which is environment friendly and efficient. This technology and the choice of unit sizes will help save fuel for the project and cut down greenhouse gas emissions as compared to regular coal-fired power stations. The greenhouse gas emissions per kWh of energy generated are 750g CO2/kWh, as compared to India’s national average of 1,259g CO2/kWh for coal-based power plants. In addition, the choice of imported coal significantly lowers sulphur emissions. The plant will use significantly less than the stipulated one percent sulphur and 10 percent ash content in coal.
Speaking on the 4,000 MW Mundra UMPP, Anil Sardana, managing director, Tata Power, said, “This plant is a state-of-the-art generation station which is built with world-class equipments sourced from Korea and Japan. The project is a fine example of world-class technology combined with innovations by the project team. We are proud and privileged to dedicate this monument of technological and project management excellence at Mundra to the nation. The project completion within record time reinforces Tata Power’s commitment to bridge the energy demand supply gap in India and reinforces our group’s commitment of, 'A promise is a promise'.”
In line with its philosophy, the company has also begun the journey of community development to address developmental needs of its neighboring communities. It includes exploring and engaging, building and formalising, implementing actions and then continuously evaluating in a manner that institutionalises relationship with communities. The initiatives span the theme of education, health, income generation and livelihood, natural resource management, infrastructure and institution building. The plant has successfully created 5,000 construction jobs and 700 operations oriented jobs till date.
Some of company’s efforts include Project Sujaan, which has led to overall improvement in academic performance among the children; grazing land mitigation by providing fodder for cattle in villages applauded by the national and state authorities; self-help group initiatives providing support to 323 women of the villages by initiating micro-finance activity and health management comprising of prevention of blindness programme reaching out to 244 people. The company has also launched Project Arogaya for health check-up and treatment of school children. With the assistance of grass-root NGOs, the company has also implemented Project Uttkarsh, a holistic community development programme catering to the needs of the community through their active participation. Project Uttkarsh is giving impetus to safe drinking water by installing RO plants, rural energy and water management by constructing check dams, creating Adarsh Anganwadis, establishing milk collection centres, as well as activities related to farming, drip irrigation, among others.
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