800 MW Yamunanagar power plant put on hold

Geetanjali Gayatri

Chandigarh, June 28

The 800 MW coal-based power plant that was to come up in Yamunanagar has been put on hold after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during a meeting, suggested that it be established at the pithead (in Jharkhand) even as Haryana has prepared a case explaining the extra expenses involved in moving it out of the state.

Sources said following a meeting between the power departments of the Centre and the state last week, it had been decided that Haryana’s arguments in favour of setting up the plant in Yamunanagar be put up before the Prime Minister, who will take the final call in this regard.

Haryana to put up case before Modi

• There will be an estimated saving of over Rs 180 crore annually if the plant is set up in Yamunanagar
• This totals to a saving of Rs 4,500 crore over the entire life of the plant and the project
• Haryana’s arguments in favour of setting up the plant in Yamunanagar will be put up before the PM

Haryana’s main contention is that there will be a substantial difference between the landed cost of power in a plant set up at the pithead and one that is set up in the state. The government has arrived at this conclusion following a report by Central Power Research Institute (CPRI), which states that state generators work out to be cheaper as compared to inter-state generators as far as landed cost is concerned. The sources said the Power Department has found that there will be an estimated saving of over Rs 180 crore annually if the plant is set up in Yamunanagar. This totals to a saving of Rs 4,500 crore over the entire life of the plant and the project. The tender for the proposed project was floated in January this year and the work is likely to be awarded by December 2023.

“The bids will be opened in August in view of certain clarifications. Our operations at the 710 MW Panipat plant will be phased out in the coming years and unit 1 and 2 of the Yamunanagar plant will also be shut by 2032. This 800 MW plant is merely a replacement,” Chairman of the Power Utilities PK Das said, adding that the demand was likely to rise to 19,000 MW by 2030. This stands at 13,500 MW at present.

Yamunanagar was chosen over Panipat since the latter falls in the NCR and the National Green Tribunal, from time to time, has ordered shutting of operations because of pollution in Delhi. “There will be substantial saving in setting up the plant in Yamunanagar since there is availability of land and water, and the new plant is essentially a brownfield expansion unit,” Das said.