Ultra Mega Power Projects (UMPP)

• Ultra Mega Power Projects (UMPPs) are a series of very large coal-based power stations planned by the Government of India from 2005.
• The aim was an extra capacity of at least 1,00,000 MW by 2022, with each project of 4,000 MW or above helping to close the gap.
• They extend the idea of the Mega Power Projects (MPPs) of the 1990s, which met with limited success.
• Position in January 2018: only Mundra and Sasan were working. The other sites were awarded and stalled, failed at bidding, or stayed proposals.

Design of the Scheme

Main Features

• Size and cost: about 4,000 MW each, at an estimated investment of about $4 billion.
• Bidding: the coal-based plants are awarded through tariff-based competitive bidding.
• Ownership: on a build, own and operate (BOO) basis. A failed bidding round of 2015 tried a design, build, finance, operate and transfer model, and draft guidelines of 2018 returned to BOO.
• Buyers: the power is sold to States, through State Electricity Boards and their successor distribution companies.
• Technology: supercritical technology gives higher fuel efficiency, which saves fuel and cuts greenhouse gas emissions.
  • Unit size may vary, provided the plant meets the specified minimum supercritical parameters.
• Fuel: two site types decide the source of coal.

List of UMPPs

• The status column rests on a Ministry of Power answer of March 2016 and a sector report of January 2018.

• On this map Sasan belongs in Singrauli district of eastern Madhya Pradesh, Kakwara in Bihar, and Nayunipalli in coastal Andhra Pradesh.

Why the Scheme Stalled

• Four projects were awarded between 2006 and 2009: Sasan, Mundra, Krishnapatnam and Tilaiya. Reliance Power won three of them, and Tata Power won Mundra.
• Coal and viability: Mundra came under severe financial strain as imported coal costs rose, and Reliance Power pulled out of Tilaiya and Krishnapatnam.
• Bidding: in January 2015, private developers backed out of the Bedabahal and Cheyyur rounds, objecting to the terms of the model on offer.
• The attempt to revive: the Ministry of Power issued draft guidelines around the start of 2018, with coal linkage secured in advance and power purchase agreements of 25 years.
• The Mega Power Policy sets its own threshold for large thermal plants, of 1,000 MW or more, with 1,500 MW in older accounts.

Important Sites

• Mundra:
  • On the coast of the Gulf of Kachchh, in the Kachchh region of Gujarat.
  • Tata Power won it by bidding.
  • This coastal plant runs on imported coal. Early accounts named Australia, and a Lok Sabha answer of 2010 named Indonesia.
• Sasan:
  • A pithead UMPP in eastern Madhya Pradesh, at Sasan village in Singrauli district.
  • It went to Reliance Power.
• Surguja:
  • A pithead project planned for Surguja (Sarguja) district in northern Chhattisgarh.
  • The Ministry of Environment and Forests refused environmental clearance for the Hasdeo coal block allotted to it.
• Girye:
  • A proposed site in Sindhudurg, the southernmost district of Maharashtra.
  • Coastal, with mandatory imported coal.
• Tadri:
  • A coastal project planned near Karwar in Karnataka.
  • It would use imported coal and sea water.
• Cheyyur:
  • A coastal site 100 km south of Chennai in Tamil Nadu, on imported coal.