Essar Power commissions 600MW Mahan I power project

Essar Power commissions 600MW Mahan I power project
 
Essar Power Limited, a subsidiary of Essar Energy plc, announced that the 600 MW unit 1 of its 1,200MW Mahan I power project has been synchronised with the transmission grid and has commenced generating power.
 
Mahan I, in Madhya Pradesh, is Essar Power’s eighth operational power plant, taking it to 3,910MW of generation capacity, compared with 1,220MW at the time of the company’s IPO in May 2010. This 600 mw capacity is the largest size single unit commissioned in Madhya Pradesh.
 
“The Mahan I plant begins operations using a combination of imported coal and coal sourced from Coal India’s e-auction process, while an application has also been made for an interim tapering coal linkage allocation from Coal India. Coal from these sources will be required until Essar Power’s nearby Mahan coal block is operational. Essar Power received stage 1 forest clearance for the Mahan coal block at the end of October 2012”the company informed in a statement .
 
Naresh Nayyar, CEO of Essar Energy, comments, “The commissioning of the first unit at Mahan is another major milestone for Essar Energy and means we have now more than tripled our generation capacity over the past couple of years. Our focus now is on the development of the Mahan coal block which will provide a low cost fuel source for the power plant, placing it among the lowest cost power generators in India.”
 
Unit 2 at Mahan I, also of 600MW, is expected to begin commercial operations during the first quarter of the next financial year 2013-14.

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