Muzaffarpur Kanti Thermal Power Station. Picture by Lokesh Bihari

Patna, Nov. 29: Come April 2015, the state is poised to get an additional 132MW of power from Muzaffarpur Thermal Power Station (MTPS) expansion project of 195MW.

It would come close on heels of the start of generation of 220MW power from MTPS.

The construction of two 195MW units is going on in full swing at MTPS. The first unit is expected to start generation from April-May and the second by October-November 2015, the year when the ruling JDU would seek re-election.

Inaugurating the second unit of 110MW at MTPS on November 15, Union minister of state for power (independent charge) Piyush Goyal had announced that one unit of 195MW would be declared open for commercial use by May 2015, while the second unit would start generation by November 2015.

A source in Bihar State Power (Holding) Company Ltd said: “We have been keeping tabs on the MTPS expansion project (of 390MW) so that the plant could be ready well before October 2015.”

JDU leader and former chief minister Nitish Kumar had, in his Independence Day speech of 2012 (as a chief minister), promised the people of the state that he would not seek vote in the next Assembly election, which is due to be held in October-November 2015, if he failed to bring substantial improvement on the power sector front.

On November 17, 2013, the state wiped out the stigma of being a nil thermal power generating state by dedicating a 110MW MTPS power plant after the completion of renovation and modernisation work by Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited. Within the span of a year, the state has added another 650MW power to its kitty. Generation started in the two units of 110MW each at MTPS and 660MW at NTPC’s Barh plant from where Bihar received an allocation of 430MW.

The state government has now set its focus on the MTPS expansion project, now re-christened as George Fernandes Thermal Power Station at Kanti in Muzaffarpur, 80km north of Patna.

The expansion project was originally designed for setting up two units of 250MW but later, the Centre threw a spanner in the plant’s construction work citing the Airports Authority of India’s (AAI) objection to the height of its chimney, which may cause security threat to the nearby airport at Muzaffarpur, which has almost been non-operational.

After the chimney height was reduced from 275m to 146m, only two units of 195MW could be set up at Muzaffarpur. Bihar is expected to get 264MW (67.7 per cent) as its share from the plant once these units are made operational.