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C. Shivkumar

BANGALORE, June 7

THE Andhra Pradesh Government has declined to forgo its share of power from the 460 MW Talcher station of the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) in favour of either Tamil Nadu or Karnataka.

AP has a share of 150 MW from the Talcher station. Both Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have been demanding that AP forego its share from this station. These States have pitched for power from Talcher on the ground that the entire capacity of the Simhadri station of NTPC is being earmarked to AP. The first unit of the 1,000 MW Simhadri station was commissioned in March 2002 and the second unit is due to be commissioned in December this year. The commissioning of the second unit of 500 MW is likely to leave AP with a surplus.

Sources said, that Andhra Pradesh, which had ruled out forgoing its share from Talcher, has indicated that it will require the 150 MW from Talcher as well as the 500 MW from Simhadri Unit II, which is due to be commissioned during the course of the year. Andhra Pradesh, sources said, required the power since it was targeting an SDP growth of close to 9 per cent for the current fiscal. Andhra Pradesh had also said that in the event of a surplus it was willing to sell the same to the neighbouring States.

Both Tamil Nadu and Karnataka also want the allocation from the liquid- fuelled Kayamkulam station of NTPC to be linked to the availability from Talcher. NTPC had offered to allot up to 100-150 MW from the Kayamkulam station to either of these States.

Karnataka is prepared to sign a long-term power purchase agreement with NTPC for combined allocation from both Talcher and Kayamkulam. Both these States have sought power from Talcher in view of the severe power crisis. Karnataka is in fact the worst hit, in view of the adverse thermal-hydro ratio. With very low inflows into the hydel reservoirs, Karnataka is currently faced with severe power shutdowns. What is now being made available to Karnataka is the unallocated capacity on spot-basis to mitigate the impact of shutdowns.

Sources said that both Karnataka and Tamil Nadu had sought combining of the capacity so as bring down the weighted average tariff for the offtake. Currently, the tariff on offer from Kayamkulam is above Rs 4 a unit which includes both capacity and variable charges. Combining the capacity from both stations would bring down the tariffs to less than Rs 3 a unit, sources said. This is because Talcher is fired by domestic coal.

Besides, Talcher is a fully depreciated plant taken over by NTPC from the Orissa State Electricity Board. NTPC's offer from the Kayamkulam station was intended to bring down the tariffs for Kerala. Kerala has not been drawing fully from the station, resulting in keeping the per unit tariffs very high. Currently, the entire capacity charge for the 350 MW station is being borne by Kerala. Sharing the capacity with other States was therefore intended to bring down the fixed cost and ensure that the project is fully utilised.

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