JOIN USChief Minister Naveen Patnaik inaugurated the unit of 600 MW at Jharsuguda, 374 km from state capital Bhubaneswar, a senior official of the company told IANS. The Vedanta group has invested about Rs.10,500 crore for this project that will be among the largest private initiatives in power sector in India, he said.
"The coal-fired independent thermal power plant is the first of its kind in private sector in the state with its state of the art technology," he said. The plant has employed many environment friendly features, including high contracted slurry disposal (HCSD) with very low consumption of water as compared to wet slurry system, the official said.
The independent power plant would be a zero effluent discharge plant with provision for water circulation and rain water harvesting, he said.
Coal, the raw material for the plant, will be sourced from near by IB Valley coalfield. Power produced from the plant's first unit will be given to Orissa at a cheap rate, he said.