By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, July 7, 2018: With power tariffs going down below Rs 3 per unit in recent months and surplus thermal power availability in the state by 2022, Odisha government is keen to scrap agreement to buy power from the Indian government owned thermal plants.

The state government now seeks to renege Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) signed with projects by the union government managed National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) which is due to start commercial operations, official said.

Interestingly, the state is assured of surplus coal-fired power from generating stations inside the state, which includes the state-owned Odisha Power Generation Corporation (OPGC)’s entire 1320 Mw to the state grid after its ongoing expansion.

Keeping this in mind, the state government has urged the Centre not to allocate power from the NTPC’s stations coming up at Katwa (West Bengal), Pirpanti and Nabinagar-II (both in Bihar) and cancel the PPAs executed between the Maharatna Power Producer and Gridco, the state-owned bulk power trader.

“Several NTPC stations for which the state designated entity Gridco has signed PPAs earlier taking into account the forecasted demand growth as per 18th EPS (Electric power Survey) have not put into commercial operations yet by NTPC. Allocations from such plants have not been made by the Ministry of Power, therefore, the state government requests the Centre not to allocate any power from such projects”, energy minister Sushanta Singh said at the recent meeting of State Power Ministers in Delhi.

Odisha is entitled to 800 Mw power from NTPC’s ensuing 1600 Mw super thermal power station at Darlipalli near Sundargarh. But with recessionary trend in industries, Grid Corporation of Odisha (Gridco) is expecting a glut in the demand of costly power by 2022.

Industries are also availing open access and installing their captive generating plants, hurting power demand.

Odisha’s case for surrender of excess power is also bolstered by greater power availability within the state. “The availability of generation inside the state has been increased due to revision in home state quota from 10 per cent to 50 per cent in the upcoming power projects like NTPC’s Darlipalli inside the state from where power is available at cheaper rate being pit head power stations as compared to the existing or upcoming NTPC generating stations located outside the state. Though Odisha has requested the Ministry of Power (MoP) several times to de-allocate its share, it has not been done yet”, Singh said.