The power purchase agreement (PPA) between Reliance and TNEB is ready and waiting for TNEB board approval, it is said. A government source said that Reliance will have to stick to the tariff that it has bid to win the project. Although details of the tariff arrived at are not known, it may be recalled that Reliance had quoted a real average tariff (RAT) of Rs 1.06 per kwh to win the project against competition from PT Wismakarya of Indonesia, which quoted Rs 1.30 per unit, and Larsen & Toubro whose bid was Rs 1.69 per unit.

Meanwhile, Tidco is moving ahead with its land-acquisition plan. It will acquire about 4,000 hectares (about 10,000 acres) in the first phase and hand over the land to Reliance by June nextyear. The first phase of the project is estimated to have a generating capacity of 1.000 MW now as against 500 mw, which had been proposed earlier.

An additional 500 mw each for the second and third phase is also on the cards, and Reliance is expected to develop all the three phases within 12 years, it is said.

Reliance has a 30-year concession to operate the project and this is extendable further. The lignite project, the first of its kind in Tamil Nadu, is to be established on a BOOM (build, own, operate and maintain) basis.

The first stage of the project will require about 7 to 8 million tonnes lignite per annum, and the final phase will call for a total of 10.5 million tonnes per annum, when total generating capacity will go up to about 2,000 mw of power.

The source said that Tidco had applied to the government for clearance for to mine in Jayamkondam. The technology will come from North American Coal Corporation which has a 5 per cent equity stake in the project and which is part of the RILconsortium. Other consortium partners are Consolidated Electric Power Asia (CEPA) which is the O&M contractor and Foster Wheeler Corporation of the US which is the EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) contractor.

Reliance is slated to complete financial closure by September next year. Commercial operations for the first phase of project is slated to start from March 2002.

BOX ITEM

Tidco plans Rs 200cr debt issue

TIDCO will come out with a Rs 200 crore debt issue soon to invest in about 14,000 acres of land required for the Jayamkondam project, industry secretary MS Srinivasan told a press meet of Sipcot in Chennai on Tuesday. He also indicated that Reliance will sign the PPA for the project next week with TNEB.