OREANDA-NEWS. February 8, 2012. India's largest gas-based power plant, the Rs. 10,000 crore Samalkot 2400 MW project, located close to India's east coast in Andhra Pradesh, is ready for commissioning in a record time of 15 months. This was announced by Reliance Power Limited, a Reliance Group company, here today.

Speaking to a select gathering of newspersons in Samalkot, J.P. Chalasani, the Chief Executive Officer of Reliance Power, said: "We believe that we have created a world record for the fastest gas-based project execution in just 15 months from placement of the order on General Electric. The entire capacity is expected to be commissioned in combined cycle by the end of 2012. The 2400 megawatt Samalkot plant is a testimony to our strong project execution capabilities. We await the allocation of domestic natural gas from the government and look forward to providing environmentally friendly clean and green power to the southern region." Further, he noted, "The project is strategically located near the prolific KG Natural Gas Basin and would contribute to reduce the deficit in the power-starved Southern Region".

The Samalkot plant would alone add over 15 per cent to power generation capacity in Andhra Pradesh, contributing to making the vast state self-sufficient in power capacity. The plant would also add about 6 per cent to the southern region grid, besides contributing significantly to the 11th Plan capacity addition target. It may be recalled that the Ministry of Power has recommended gas allocation of 9.6 MMSCMD (million metric standard cubic metre per day) for the Samalkot project.

It was in November 2010 that Reliance Power had signed a strategic collaboration agreement with General Electric Inc. in the presence of US President Barack Obama. The USD 750 million collaboration encompasses supply of main plant equipment, long term equipment maintenance and also facilitates international financing from US EXIM. The Samalkot project is being constructed in international collaborations with world-class vendors such as GE (USA), Hamon (Belgium), Hyundai (Korea) and Xian Electric (China).