With a click of a button, Reliance Power marched its way into the world of power generation in Rosa (Shahjahanpur) on Monday, coinciding with the 77th birth anniversary of Reliance founder Dhirubhai Ambani.
It was clearly the beginning of a new era for the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group to start generation at what was not only their first, but also North India's first private sector thermal power plant in Rosa village on the outskirts of Shahjahanpur town in Uttar Pradesh.
While the one of the four 300 MW units was set into motion on a chilly Monday morning at Rosa, about 175 km from Lucknow, the state capital, the second 300 MW unit would get synchronized by the end of January, to be followed by commissioning of the two remaining 300 MW units by March 2012.
"In fact, March 2012 will mark the beginning of a new era for Reliance Power as we hope to simultaneously commission two other power projects -- a 600 MW plant at Butibori near Nagpur in Maharashtra, and a 1300 MW plant at Sasan in Madhya Pradesh," Reliance Power chief executive officer J P Chalasani told mediapersons shortly after pressing the button to synchronize the first 300 MW unit in Rosa.
Reliance Power said it plans to become over 3,300-MW company by the end of the Eleventh Five-year Plan (2007-2012).
"By March 2012 we would be able to generate over 3,300 MW of electricity," Chalasani said.
Significantly, the Rs 6,000 crore (Rs 60 billion) project is not only described as the largest single investment by any private player in the country's most populous and politically crucial state, but was also the first Reliance Power plant to start generation.
"It was a matter of pride for us to have moved well ahead of our schedule and instead of April 2010, we had succeeded in taking off today, that was also the 77th birth anniversary of our founder Dhirubhai Ambani," Chalasani pointed out.
"After taking over the reins of the project in 2007, we put it on the fast track by expeditiously taking over possession of land, signing the PPA and achieving al key milestones including obtaining all the statutory and regulatory clearances and approvals, as also signing coal supply and transportation agreements," he said.
According to him, "once the entire plant was commissioned, it would enable us to make an annual contribution of 9000 million units to Uttar Pradesh, where it could light up as many as 4 million homes, besides helping in bringing down load shedding by at least 25 per cent."
Spread over 1,500 acres, it took 120,000 tonne of steel and equipment -- largely from China -- to erect the gigantic plant.
While as many as about 5,000 workers, including construction labour, were currently engaged in the project, it is expected to provide permanent direct employment to 300 people. "However, it had tremendous potential to generate a lot of indirect employment for which preference would be given to local persons," stresses Chalasani.
The stage one of the power project will supply the entire power to Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Ltd (UPPCL) for which a power purchase agreement was signed on November 12, 2006.
The coal for the project would be sourced from the Ashoka mines in Jharkhand.
