Anil Ambani-led Reliance Energy Limited has expressed keenness to set up a thermal power plant in Uttar Prdaesh. Interestingly, the project will come up at Dadri in Ghaziabad, where the company proposed to build a gas-based power project, which ran into rough weather due to the non-availability of fuel.
According to sources, the company has expressed interest in coming up with a 400-mw plant initially. It has already sent a proposal to the energy department and the Uttar Pradesh Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Limited (UPRVUNL).
The REL move may have stemmed from the fact that the company’s gas-fired power project has hit many roadblocks recently, especially after the Mulayam Singh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party lost in the Assembly elections in May.
REL also has plans to enter power distribution business in the state in a big way. It has already sought a licence from Uttar Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission (UPERC) for power distribution in Meerut, Ghaziabad and Noida. And the move now to set up a thermal plant at Dadri may have been offset by the desire to feed its distribution company, once it gets the UPERC’s go-ahead.
The company has already acquired no objection certificates (NOCs) and submitted the same to the UPERC.