More power to Bihar, Jharkhand as NPGC unit-II goes live today

The commencement of commercial operation of NPGC unit-2 is a major milestone and a step towards our commitment to ensure energy security... VIJAY SINGH, chief executive officer

PATNA: The second unit of the 660x3 mega watt Nabinagar Power Generating Company (NPGC) in Aurangabad will commence commercial generation of power in the wee hours of Friday, according to a press release issued by the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC).

The 72-hour trial operation of this unit was done in March.

Bihar, which gets an average daily 4,000-5,000 MW power from Central sectors, would now get an additional 559 MW of electricity, which is 84.8% of the total power generated from this unit.

Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Sikkim would share the remaining power from this unit, said NTPC spokesman Vishwanath Chandan.

Bihar will draw roughly 1,122 MW power from the two NPGC units each of 660MW.

The 660 MW unit-1 of the plant became commercially viable on September 6, 2019. The third unit (660 MW) is expected to be commissioned within the next six months as its construction, testing and optimisation activities were at an advanced stage, Chandan said.

Praveen Saxena, regional executive director (east-1) and director (NPGC), praised his team for completing the work braving unprecedented challenges during the Covid-19 pandemic. “The commencement of commercial operation of NPGC unit-2 is a major milestone and a step towards our commitment to ensure energy security to the country,” said its chief executive officer Vijay Singh.

The NTPC, eastern region-1, has an installed power generation capacity of 6,660 MW in Bihar out of the total 9,160 MW generated across nine projects in Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal. It will add another 7,270 MW once its two ongoing projects at North Karanpura in Chatra district and Patratu Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Ltd at Ramgarh district in Jharkhand are complete.