Indian private-sector firm Adani Power will set up a 3,200MW greenfield thermal power plant in the country’s northeastern Assam state.
Bombay Stock Exchange-listed Adani Power, India’s largest private sector power generator, will invest 480bn rupees ($5.42bn) to set up this ultra super critical power plant in Assam, the company said on 14 November.
Adani Power emerged as the successful bidder by offering the lowest tariff of Rs6.30/kWh in a tightly contested bidding process, it said.
The plant will be set up under the Design, Build, Finance, Own and Operate (DBFOO) model. Coal linkage for the power plant has been allocated under coal allocation policy of the federal government.
The project will have four units of 800MW each and will be commissioned in a phased manner between December 2030-December 2032, Adani said. Adani has a current operating capacity of 18.15GW from 12 thermal power plants and one solar plant and aims to reach a generation capacity of 42GW by 2032.
The project award coincides with India’s aim to boost its overall generation to power its economic growth and provide round-the-clock electricity to all households in coming years.
The award is also in line with India’s plans to add 80GW of new coal-fired generation capacity by 2032 to meet an anticipated growth in India’s power demand over the next decade. But bulk of these additions are expected to be based on domestic fuel, limiting prospects for imported coal.
The project, along with other under construction and existing power plants, could buoy domestic coal demand and absorb surplus supplies, at a time when state-owned coal producer Coal India (CIL) aims to bulk up its output.
CIL, which meets more than 80pc of India’s coal needs, plans to raise its production in the April 2025-March 2026 financial year to 875mn t, up by 12pc from the year earlier and lift it further to 1bn t in the 2026-27 financial year.
The coal producer also aims to further raise the output to 1.04bn t in 2027-28, 1.08bn t in 2028-29 and 1.13bn t in 2029-30. The plans are part of India’s efforts to meet most of its coal demand through domestic sources and reduce non-essential coal imports.
