ONGC Tripura Power Project

Oil & Natural Gas Corporation Ltd. (“ONGC”), a Fortune 500 company of the Government of India, owns significant natural gas reserves in the North Eastern state of Tripura. However, these natural gas reserves are yet to be commercially developed due to low industrial demand in the North-Eastern region. The complexities of logistics and attendant costs limit the economic viability of transportation of gas to other parts of the country where gas is in deficit. In order to optimally utilise the gas available in Tripura, ONGC proposes to initially develop a 726.6 MW Combined Cycle Gas Turbine (CCGT) thermal power plant (“the Project”) close to its gas fields in the state of Tripura and supply power to the deficit areas of North Eastern States of India

This initiative of ONGC is expected to transform the power scenario of entire North-Eastern Region of the country and catalyze rapid economic development of the region. The generation project combined with linked transmission project and upstream gas supply project is slated to bring in investments of around Rs. 9,000 Crore, in the region

ONGC Tripura Power Company Ltd is sponsored by Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services Limited (IL&FS) and Government of Tripura (GoT) for implementation of 726.6 MW CCGT thermal power project at Palatana in Tripura to supply power to the power deficit areas of North Eastern states of the country. ONGC, IL&FS and GoT have entered into a Shareholders’ Agreement (SHA) on September 18, 2008 for subscribing to the equity of OTPC.

The Ministry of Power (MoP) has allocated the power from the project to the NER beneficiary states. This initiative is expected to transform the entire North Eastern region of the country. The generation project combined with linked transmission project and upstream gas supply project is slated to bring in investments of around Rs. 9000 crore in the region.

Consequently the delivery of the power from the power plant site to the demand centres would comprise of two distinct project components namely:

Generation Project : 726.6 MW Combined Cycle Gas Turbine (CCGT) power plant at Palatana, Tripura, based on ONGC's domestic gas supply. The project is in advanced stage of implementation. EPC contract of about Rs. 2200 crores has already been awarded to BHEL on August 11,2008.
The Generation Project is being domiciled in ONGC Tripura Power Company Ltd. (“OTPC” or “the Company”), a Special Purpose Vehicle promoted by ONGC, IL&FS Limited and Government of Tripura (GoT).


Transmission Project : A 400 kV D/C Transmission system connecting Palatana (generation project site) in Tripura to Bongaigaon in Assam over a distance of around 650 Kms for the evacuation of power from the generation project.
The development and operation of the transmission system would be undertaken by North-East Transmission Company Limited (NETCL) a joint venture of OTPC, Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd (PGCIL) and the North Eastern Region beneficiary states.OTPC has been granted in-principle approval for Mega Power Project (MPP) status by GoI on July 27, 2006 for the Project. The company is applying to MoP, GoI for final approval of MPP status and the same is expected to be obtained shortly.

For evacuating Power from the gas based 726.6 MW power Project Generators, a trunk transmission line is being developed by another Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), jointly promoted by Power Grid Corporation Ltd., OTPC and the North Eastern Region (NER) states. Inter-state and intra-state sub-transmission system and the distribution system within NER states shall be developed by Power Grid Corporation as the Central Transmission Utility (CTU)

The Transmission Project was initially envisaged to be domiciled in a separate SPV, North-East Power Transmission Company Limited ("NEPTC") and developed through a BOOT operator. However given the criticality of timely completion of the Transmission System to the operations of the Generation Plant, a decision was taken todevelop the transmission system as a component of the composite Project within OTPC. Subsequently, the process of merging NEPTC with OTPC was initiated; The petition for amalgamation of NEPTC with OTPC was approved by the Hon'ble Guwahati High Court in Sept 2007.

Subsequently, in late 2007, in consultation with the Ministry of Power (MoP), it was decided that the integrated project be developed as a regional project. The power allocation from the project was revised and about 640 MW was allocated to the NER beneficiary states and the balance 100 MW was to be retained by OTPC for merchant/short-term sale (based on assumed capacity of 740 MW). Pursuant to this development, the Transmission project was again carved out for development through a separate SPV. Accordingly the Transmission JV was again incorporate as “North East Transmission Company Ltd”(NETC) .The transmission project is progressing smoothly with the process of award of transmission tower construction packages for completion in tandem with the commisioning of the Generation Project.