Moser Baer Power & Infrastructure Ltd, a subsidiary of global technology major Moser Baer, has set a target of about 5,000 mw of power capacity and the first of its planned thermal projects is coming up in Madhya Pradesh.

To start with, MB Power (Madhya Pradesh) Ltd, a special purpose vehicle, is setting up a 2,000-mw (4x500 mw) coal-based thermal power project in Jaithari tehsil in Anuppur district. The MoU with the state government was signed in July last year. The project will be implemented in two phases of 1,000 mw each (2x500 mw each).

"Our aim is to become a mega player in the power sector,"
L.R. Shrivastav, Chief Executive Officer, MB Power, told Projectmonitor over telephone. "Since power projects have a long gestation period, it is not possible to talk of a timeframe but it will take roughly five to seven years."

The power projects, whose number is not specified, will be established in the coal belt region of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Orissa.

Not long ago, the company invited EOI for the supply, installation, testing and commissioning of the 2x500 mw phase-I of the project. "The tendering for phase-I of the EPC project is under way and we are moving quickly in that direction," Shrivastav said. The scope of work stipulates complete equipment and systems, including associated civil works.

"Phase-I is scheduled to commission by March 2012. MP Power Generating Company Ltd will buy 30 per cent of the power generated," Shrivastav disclosed. Plans for phase-II are yet to be firmed up.

MB Power has acquired part of the nearly 2,000 acres of private and government land required for the project. The company has tied up coal linkage with South Eastern Coalfields Ltd, a subsidiary of Coal India Ltd. Water for the power plant will be sourced from Son river, upstream of Bansagar dam. The project will not encroach on forest land, national park or sanctuary.
 
However, a PTI report said recently that the MP High Court had stayed the land acquisition for the power station in Anuppur following a PIL filed by Ramlal Gond, President, Jaithari Janpad Panchayat. Jaithari is the location of the project. The land acquisition has been challenged, apparently, on the ground that the state government, in its notification issued in December 2008, had failed to mention the area on which the 2,000-mw TPS was coming up. When contacted for confirmation, Shrivastav said, "I am not aware of the stay order. It must be a recent development."

Anuppur district, situated in the north-eastern part of Madhya Pradesh and bordering Chhattisgarh, has rich deposits of coal and bauxite. The region is home to the 210-mw Amarkantak TPS of MP Power Generating Company Ltd, which was synchronised in June 2008. The state-owned power company is already operating two 30-mw units and two 120-mw units.