Tata Power's Mundra ultra mega power project starts operation

AHMEDABAD: Tata Power commissioned a unit of its 4,000 mw power station at Mundra in Gujarat on Sunday, becoming the country’s first ultra mega power project (UMPP) to generate electricity, officials said.

The ambitious UMPP programme, in which companies like Tata Power and Reliance Power have won projects after aggressive bids, face several challenges such as a sharp rise in cost of imported coal and other issues, prompting and Empowered Group of Ministers to take a fresh look at fuel-related matters.

Undeterred by these problems, Tata Power test fired its first super critical 800-MW unit with initial generation of 60 MW, and aims to ramp up the unit in day. The company is aiming to increase generation from its proposed 4,000 MW coal fired power project entailing an investment of Rs17,000 crore subsequently.

To begin with, Tata UMPP is feeding electricity grid of Gujarat that will avail 1900 MW of power once the project is fully operational. Tata Power will get close toRs2.26 per unit, which is the levelised tariff for Mundra project.

Soon, apex state power utility Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Limited (GUVNL) and Tata Power will consider coal price escalation, but the company would not be able to pass on the entire additional burden to the state government.