SBI, associates to fund 70 % of DVC’s Bokaro power project
18 May 2012
State Bank of India, the country's largest commercial bank, has agreed to lend Rs1,400 crore to power producer Damodar Valley Corp (DVC) to part-fund its 500 MW Bokaro thermal power station (A) project.
Associate banks of SBI will lend another Rs1,000 crore to the project, the bank said in a statement from Mumbai. This represents 70 per cent of the estimated project's cost of Rs3,500 crore. The Bokaro station will have a debt-equity ratio of 70:30.
It would replace the old and abandoned 247 MW thermal power plant which was built in 1953. The Bokaro unit is expected to be commissioned in April 2014.
Fuel for the project will come from Central Coalfields Ltd, a branch of the world's largest coal producer, state-owned Coal India Ltd. The power generated will be fed to the national grid.
"DVC has signed a power purchase agreement with the Punjab State Electricity Board to supply 200 MW, while the rest will be consumed by Jharkhand," the release said.
The power generation from old thermal plants of DVC stands at 2,210mw; and it has commissioned new thermal plants with additional capacity of 3,500 MW so far. The corporation is expecting to make further capacity addition of 1,250 MW during this fiscal.