The Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Ltd suffered a loss of Rs.62.87 crore during FY2013-14 owing to poor performance of Reliance Power’s 3,960-MW Sasan Ultra Mega Power Project, the All India Power Engineers Federation said in a recent letter to state Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav.

The Sasan UMPP, located in Madhya Pradesh, is the world’s largest integrated coal mine and power project comprising six units of 660 MW each. Its third unit commenced power generation last month taking the total operational capacity at the project to 1,980 MW. The balance three units are in advanced stages of construction and expected to be commissioned over the next few months. Coal production has already commenced from the 20 million tonnes Moher and Moher Amlohri coal mines associated with the power project.

The first unit of Sasan UMPP was synchronised on March 9, 2013, while the second unit commenced power generation in December the same year.

In the power purchase agreement executed between Sasan Power Ltd, the special purpose vehicle floated for the project, and 14 power distribution companies in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Uttarakhand and Delhi, the tariff for the first year had been fixed at Rs.0.70 per unit.

LOSSES CAUSED TO PROCURING STATES IN 2013-14 DUE TO POOR PERFORMANCE OF SASAN UMPP
State
Share in Project
(Percentage)
Energy Shortfall (mu)
Financial Impact @ `3.30 per unit (` crore)
Madhya Pradesh
37.5
352.53
116.335
Punjab
15
141.012
46.534
Uttar Pradesh
12.5
117.51
38.778
Delhi
11.25
105.759
34.900
Haryana
11.25
105.759
34.900
Uttarakhand
2.5
23.502
7.756
Rajasthan
10
94.008
31.023
Total
100
940.08
310.226
Source:AIPEF

The AIPEF, in its letter to the chief minister, said that during 2013-14, the Sasan UMPP could achieve plant load factor of 58.30 per cent as against the requirement of 80 per cent in the PPA. The scheduled energy delivered during the period was 2,526.224 million units.

Pointing out that the failure of the operational units of the UMPP to achieve the required PLF of 80 per cent had led to a generation shortfall of 940.08 million units during 2013-14, the power engineers’ representative body said the losses caused to the seven procuring states as a result exceeded Rs.300 crore.

While estimating the losses caused to procuring states due to the poor performance of Sasan UMPP, the AIPEF considered the market rate of power at Rs.4 per unit. While calculating the financial impact on each of the procuring states, the rate of Rs.3.30 per unit was taken into account given that the tariff for the project in the first year had been fixed at Rs.0.70 per unit.

Sasan UMPP_ProjectsMonitorThe AIPEF, in its letter, added that in case of Uttar Pradesh, the actual loss suffered due to non-availability of the 117.51 million units from the Sasan UMPP was to the extent of Rs.62.87 crore during 2013-14 since UPPCL procured power from Reliance Power’s Rosa thermal power plant at the rate of Rs.6.05 per unit.

For assessing the financial impact on the state due to non-availability of the 117.51 million units during 2013-14, the AIPEF took into account the rate of Rs.5.35 per unit, arrived at after deducting the tariff of Rs.0.70 per unit from the rate applicable for procuring power from the Rosa thermal power plant.

The letter further alleged that Reliance Power was deliberately not operating the units of the Sasan UMPP to their full capacity as the company wanted to supply the expensive power generated by its Rosa thermal power plant.

The AIPEF urged the chief minister to take up the issue with the Ministry of Power so that the loss suffered by the state due to the poor performance of the Sasan UMPP could be recovered from Reliance Power.


Print pagePDF pageEmail page