9 Sep : Coastal sites of Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu will be the first beneficiaries of atomic power after the NSG waiver for India’s nuclear commerce as mega plants have been planned to generate at least 14,000 MW.
Jaitapur in Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra is likely to see French vendor Areva generating 10,000 MW plant and the site selection and in-principle approval have been completed by the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL).
The plant has the potential of having at least 10,000 MW capacity in addition, NPCIL Chairman S K Jain told the news agency.Jaitapur has the potential of generating 10,000 MW of power setting up of 8 units of 1200 MW each or 10 units of 1000 MW each or 6 units of 1600 MW each and details of it are being worked out, he said.
Since the size of the programme is going to be so big, the unit energy cost will be taken into consideration, Jain said.Asked about the funding of the projects, he said it depended on the type of understanding with the vendor whether it would be a turn-key project or technical cooperation and with how much indigenisation.
The debt-equity ratio will be 70:30 and many possible funding mechanisms are being worked out including export- import funding (short term), commercial funding (very costly) and also the one practiced in the case of Koodankulam project in Tamil Nadu with government credit, he said.
Borrowing from Indian market could be costlier than borrowing from foreign markets, Jain said adding all kinds of options are being worked out focusing on unit energy cost.DDINEWS