The board of directors of the power company, which proposes to add over 22,000 mw in the 11th Plan period, gave nod for the investment proposal including interest during construction (IDC) and financing charges of Rs 1,050.60 crore and a working capital margin of Rs 132 crore for the 3x660 mw project. The investment plan has been appraised by SBI Capital

Markets Ltd. According to NTPC sources, "The company is in the process of awarding some plant equipment to Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd for Barh stage II." The power company has projected additional coal requirement of 7.72 mt per annum for Barh stage II considering plant load factor (PLF) of 90% and gross caloric value of 3,300 kcal/kg. The increased coal requirement will be met from Chatti Bariatu and Kerandhari captive coal blocks of North Karanpura coalfields allotted to NTPC.

Additional water requirement will be met from river Ganges, for which commitment of 80 cusecs is available from the Bihar government. Moreover, the expansion project has all the statutory clearances in place.

According to sources, the project will be set up as an inter-regional station to supply to the northern and western regions, besides Bihar in the eastern Region. The first unit is expected to be commissioned within 51 months from the placement of main plant order, and the subsequent units would be made operational at an interval of 10 months after the first unit.

Sources said that Barh STPP was originally conceived as a coal-based super thermal power project, having an ultimate capacity of 2,000 mw (4x500 MW), for which land was identified for plant, township and ash disposal areas. The unit configuration of the project was subsequently revised to 3x660 mw, with a capacity of 1,980 mw.

Accordingly, first stage site clearance was obtained from the ministry of environment and forests. The project is expected to be commissioned during the 11th Plan period.