DVC to Be Corporatised, Divided into 3 Entities

Kolkata, Jul 17 (PTI) The Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC), the first multipurpose river valley project of independent India, will be corporatised, unbundling into at least three entities for transmission, generation, and distribution to achieve greater efficiency, an official said on Wednesday.

Praising the corporation, Union Power Minister Manohar Lal asked it to expedite the unbundling exercise during a review meeting at the DVC headquarters here during the day.

He also suggested the board explore the IPO route to raise resources for its expansion plans.

DVC functions under the Centre's Ministry of Power.

Established in 1948, the DVC is an integrated power major spread across a command area of 24,235 sq km in West Bengal and Jharkhand.

"The plan for corporatisation was on the agenda, but the minister wanted to expedite the process. The existing shareholding among the Centre, West Bengal, and Jharkhand governments will remain intact," DVC Chairman S Suresh Kumar told PTI after the review meeting.

The interest of the Centre and the two states is almost the same, a source said.

DVC plans to install an additional capacity of nearly 10,000 MW in thermal and green energy, ramping up its total capacity to about 16,700 MW.

This would comprise 3,720 MW of thermal power, 4,000 MW of solar power, and 2,500 MW from a pump storage power plant.

The total capex is estimated to be between Rs 50,000-60,000 crore.

The current installed capacity of DVC is nearly 6700 MW, of which 6540MW is thermal.

The minister during the meeting stressed the need to increase the renewable energy share in DVC's total energy portfolio.

Currently, DVC has a meagre green energy portfolio and is implementing a 310 MW solar plant with NTPC.

According to sources present at the meeting with the Union minister, DVC raised issues of grade slippages of coal supplies by Coal India subsidiaries, which have ramifications on generation cost and power tariff.

"We have also updated certain aspects of the Fuel Supply Agreement of coal to keep pace with demand. We also sought the ministry's help in signing Power Purchase Agreements for the future capacities and recovering legacy dues," a source said, declining to be quoted.

DVC has about Rs 300-400 crore in legacy dues out of Rs 1,000 crore with the Jharkhand state government.

DVC officials said the minister was very cooperative and assured the Corporation that the operational and financial issues faced by it would be resolved at both the department and government levels for the smooth and effective functioning of the corporation.

The minister also offered full support to DVC for its expansion plans and overall growth so that the Corporation can contribute significantly to the sustainable development of the nation.

Out of the DVC's total nine thermal and hydel power stations, five are in Jharkhand with the rest being located in neighbouring West Bengal.