PATNA: The NTPC started commercial operation from the third and final unit of Nabinagar Power Generating Company (NPGC) at Nabinagar in Aurangabad district from Tuesday midnight. The electricity generation capacity of the unit is 660MW, out of which Bihar is to get 559MW henceforth.
As per the power allocation agreement, Bihar is slated to get 84.8% of the total power generated from the unit. The rest has been allocated to Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Sikkim. Now, Bihar’s allocation of power generated from six NTPC plants in the state has surged from 5361MW to 5,920 MW.
Earlier, a 72 hours’ trial operation of the third unit of NPGC was successfully conducted in March.
“The beginning of commercial operation from the third unit of NPGC is the final move for completion of the NPGC. Now NPGC project becomes a power station which has started contributing energy to the beneficiaries states,” said R K Pandey, chief executive officer (CEO), NPGC.
NTPC spokesperson Vishwanath Chandan said unit 1 and 2 of the NPGC attained commercial operation status on September 6, 2019 and July 22, 2021 respectively. “With commercial operation from the third unit, the total generation capacity of NPGC has become 1,980MW, out of which Bihar has started getting 1,677MW,” Chandan said. He added: “The commercial operation status ensures technical compliance to statutory, safety and legal requirements. The commercial operation from the third unit also marks the contractual handover of the unit from the principal contractors, Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) to NTPC.”
Sital Kumar, regional executive director (east-1) and director (NPGC), said: “We are proud of our team at NPGC who delivered this third and final unit with utmost dedication. The work completion under unprecedented challenging conditions, especially during lockdown and under Covid-19 restrictions are worth mentioning. Our entire team, including the execution partner, worked hard to ensure that testing activities are done successfully following all protocols laid down.”
All senior officials of NPGC led by CEO Pandey were present during the commercial declaration of the third unit. Senior officials including directors of NTPC from New Delhi headquarters were also connected through virtual mode.
NTPC eastern region-1 has an installed power generation capacity of 10,510MW across eight projects in Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal, while projects of generating 3,720MW power are under way. (Times of India)
