With two planned power plants in Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, DB Power Ltd is also looking at States like Maharashtra, Orissa and Rajasthan to set up more power plants

Dainik Bhaskar (DB) Power Ltd, which recently awarded contracts for its Chhattisgarh power plant, is also looking at Maharashtra, Orissa and Rajasthan to set up power projects. Work on its proposed power plant in Madhya Pradesh is also underway.

"Other than the Chhattisgarh power project, we are planning new power plants in Maharashtra, Orissa and Rajasthan. We are in the process of identifying locations in these States," said an official, who did not wish to be named.

For the Madhya Pradesh plant, allocation of coal mine for this project is in the advanced stage and the location is under the approval process. This power plant is expected to be of a total capacity of 2,640MW. A memorandum of understanding (MoU) of 1,200MW has already been signed with Madhya Pradesh.

Further, the company is also looking at States like Maharashtra, Orissa and Rajasthan for additional power plants.

For the Maharashtra power project, the company has also received a letter of support from the State government. According to sources, these planned power projects are likely to be of total capacity of 1,320MW each.

Power sale from these planned coal-based projects will be a mix of long term and merchant sales. "The exact ratio of the mix has been left open for the bankers' decision depending on their comfort level to fund these projects," said the official.

Over a period of next 3-5 years, the company is looking at setting up facilities to generate more than 5,000MW of power, largely coal-based.

DB Power recently awarded Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) the Rs2,665-crore order to build its 1,200MW power plant at Champa in Chhattisgarh. The coal supply is likely to be sourced from South Eastern Coalfields Ltd and Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (2.49 million tonnes per annum each). The project would be of two units of 600MW each.

This company is promoted by the promoters of Bhaskar Group - Ramesh Chandra Agarwaal, Sudhir Agarwaal, Girish Agarwaal and Pawan Agarwaal.— Amritha Pillay