Adani and Jindal power compete in bids to acquire Sinnar Thermal Plant

Adani power, Jindal power , Vedanta Group , Orissa Metaliks , and VFSI Holdings Pte are competing to buy the sufferings of Sinnar Thermal Power Plant which is 1350 MW ( Megawatt) facility and located near Nashik , Maharashtra. Additionally, two state-run companies i.e. MAHAGENCO and NTPC , have also joined the competition and have submitting a joint bid for the same .

Originally, Sinnar Thermal Power Plant was developed by Indiabulls power and currently it is possess by RattanIndia Power.This company have been entered corporate insolvency in January after construction dues to Shapoorjii Pallonji nd CO. remained unpaid and been placed under the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) in September 2022.

Six companies including the bidders have submitted their plans, and final values of their bids is still being reviewed. With this , Bidders have submitted initial plans as well deposits of 10 crore as part of their proposals .
The Sinnar plant owes a total of Rs 15,909 crore to several creditors, the largest being Power Finance Corp and its subsidiary, Rural Electrification Corp, with other creditors like Punjab National Bank, Axis Bank, and Life Insurance Corporation , etc.

The Sinnar Thermal Power Plant is located in a special economic zone about 50 km from Nashik has faced numerous challenges. Firstly, as it’s only one unit i.e. 270 MW is fully operational nd remaining unit works occassionally. Secondly, the plant lacks a reliable coal supply since South Eastern Coalfields Ltd neutralized its contract in December 2022 due to the plant’s partial commissioning and the lack of a power purchase agreement (PPA). The PPA with Maharashtra’s electricity distribution company was terminated several years ago, making the plant’s future more uncertain.

New owner of the plant( whoever buy this plant) has the chance that they would double it’s power capacity by using 1600 acres of land around it. However challenges like Coal supply issues , unresolved land disputes nd lack of railway connection to the plant is complicating the bidding . One can be resolved that is railway line but it would be cost hundreds of crores , which need to be factored in by any buyer.

The Joint bid by MAHAGENCO and NTPC is considered strong because of their ability as they owns 2190 MW Koradi power plant near Nagpur which could serve the coal to the Sinnar plant and can became coal supplier
With this , expectations can be kept to MAHAGENCO that it can can help to overcome with this issues as it’s a India’s largest state-run company with over 13000 MW of installed power capacity.
However at last, any potential buyer can address these challenges before plant starts operating smoothly.