Nov. 20, 2009 (The Hindu Business Line) --
Thiruvananthapuram, Nov. 20
The Union Minister for Power, Mr Sushilkumar Shinde, has assured the State Government of all possible assistance to revive the 1,300 MW thermal power project at Cheemeni in Kasaragode district.
The prospects are getting brighter given the Centre’s attaching top priority to capacity addition all over the country, the State Power Minister, Mr A. K. Balan, told newspersons here.
This has encouraged the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) to get back to the drawing room and plan the Cheemeni project afresh. The required coal feed can be sourced from the field allotted to it at Talcher, Orissa.
KSEB has already set up a company for undertaking the mining operations in association with a group of other public sector utilities.
At one time, Kerala had explored the option of having a pit-head power project at Talcher in association with counterpart utilities and setting up a greenfield project back home that would source coal allotted to it from Orissa.
Assured power supply
Mr Balan said KSEB was taking concrete steps to make available assured supply of power in the State over the long term. With the commissioning of the LNG terminal in Kochi by 2012, natural gas would be available as a cheaper alternative fuel for power generation.
KSEB proposes to upgrade the Brahmapuram project to 1,000 MW capacity, apart from setting up another with 1,000 MW capacity and LNG as fuel, the Minister said.
The NTPC Kayamkulam unit too was being upgraded by adding 1,950 MW to existing capacity to coincide with the commissioning of the LNG terminal. NTPC has already started work on the project.
