Reliance Power announced that the second 660 MW unit of the 3,960 MW Sasan Ultra Mega Power Project (UMPP) has commenced power generation. The unit has commenced power generation in the shortest time of just about a month from boiler light up. This was made possible by adopting innovative commissioning methods. Balance four units are in advanced stages of construction and will be commissioned over the next few months.
The Sasan Ultra Mega Power Project is the largest integrated power plant and coal mining project in the world.
Coal production has already commenced from the 20 million tonnes Moher and Moher-Amlohri coal mines associated with the powerproject.
With this unit, Reliance Power's generation capacity has increased to 3,205 MW which includes 3,120 MW of thermal capacity and 85 MW of renewable energy based capacity.
Notably, Sasan Ultra Mega Power Project (UMPP) is an upcoming 3,960 MW pit-head coal-based power plant in Madhya Pradesh. The project is the first domestic coal-based UMPP awarded in the country by the Government of India.
In order to meet the growing gap between demand and supply of power, the Government has come up with the concept of UMPPs. These large scale projects are aimed at building large capacities at low costs which can sell power at low tariffs to consumers.
The projects are awarded to developers on tariff-based competitive bidding on a Build-Own-Operate basis. Power Finance Corporation (PFC) the financial institution under the Ministry of Power is the nodal agency for getting the basic infrastructure like land, water supply, environment clearances, etc. for UMPPs.