Around 350 million people across New Delhi, the National Capital Region (NCR) and other northern states will now get more power following the commissioning of the first 660-megawatt (MW) unit of the Sasan power project in Madhya Pradesh.
The 3,960-MW Sasan project in India's second ultra-mega power project (UMPP) developed by Anil Ambani-led Reliance Power.
The first UMPP, developed by Tata Power at Mundra in Gujarat, already stands commissioned and is contributing 4,000 MW in power to the northern grid.
The Rs 23,000-crore Sasan project started feeding in 660 MW of electricity into the grid beginning Saturday and announced the full commissioning of the project in the next 15 months by June 2014.
This would mean a steady supply of cheap power for seven states of Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand.
Against the average cost of power currently procured by states at the rate of Rs 5 per unit, electricity from Sasan power project will be available at Rs 1.19 a unit.
On every 100 MW of electricity purchased from Sasan at Rs 1.19 a unit, states are expected to save Rs 334 crore. This means they will save Rs 2,204 crore following the commissioning of the project.
{{/usCountry}}On every 100 MW of electricity purchased from Sasan at Rs 1.19 a unit, states are expected to save Rs 334 crore. This means they will save Rs 2,204 crore following the commissioning of the project.
{{/usCountry}}Sasan will flow around 3,300 MW of electricity into the grid by March, 2014. Once fully commissioned, states will be able to save more than Rs 13,200 crore.
"I am confident that Sasan power project and coal mine would set new benchmarks in operational efficiency," said JP Chalasani, CEO, Reliance Power.