Athena Chhattisgarh power station

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Athena Chhattisgarh power station is a power station under construction in Bade Dumarpali, Kharsia, Raigarh, Chhattisgarh, India. It is also known as Singhitarai, Singhitari.

Location

Table 1: Project-level location details

Plant name	Location	Coordinates (WGS 84)
Athena Chhattisgarh power station	Bade Dumarpali, Kharsia, Raigarh, Chhattisgarh, India	21.906765, 83.129001 (exact)

The map below shows the exact location of the power station.

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Unit-level coordinates (WGS 84):

• Unit 1, Unit 2: 21.906765, 83.129001

Project Details

Table 2: Unit-level details

Unit name	Status	Fuel(s)	Capacity (MW)	Technology	Start year	Retired year
Unit 1	construction	coal - unknown	600	supercritical	2031	–
Unit 2	construction	coal - unknown	600	supercritical	2031	–

Table 3: Unit-level ownership and operator details

Unit name	Owner
Unit 1	Athena Chattisgarh Power Ltd [100.0%]
Unit 2	Athena Chattisgarh Power Ltd [100.0%]

Project-level coal details

• Permit(s): January 6, 2024 – Environmental Clearance; New Terms of Reference: 2023-05-10; Environmental Clearance extension: 2016-03-22, September 2023 – Environmental Clearance Recommendation; New Terms of Reference: 2023-05-10; Environmental Clearance extension: 2016-03-22

Background

The Athena Chhattisgarh power station is a proposed 1200 megawatt (MW) coal-fired power plant in Bade Dumarpali, Kharsia, Raigarh, Chhattisgarh, India.

On January 15, 2009, a public hearing was held under the authority of the Additional District Magistrate, Janjgir-Champa. At the hearing, members of the group Jan Chetana pointed out that the Terms of Reference (ToR) for the plant required that a study cover an area of 10 km radius around the proposed site, but that the study actually only included an area of 7 km radius, thereby excluding the village of Singhitari. Based on this evidence, the Additional District Magistrate cancelled the public hearing. However, in August 2009, the Ministry of Environment and Forestry approved the project, clearing the way for construction.

At this point, Ramesh Agrawal, with help from lawyers with the Legal Initiative for Forests and Environment (LIFE) challenged the clearance before the National Environmental Appellate Authority (NEAA). As a result, in November 2009 the NEAA issued a one-page order stating that the proceedings of the public hearing did not have any validity. The NEAA then quashed the environmental clearance for the project on March 8, 2010. On April 5, 2010, the public hearings were held again 25-30 km away from the project site, and only 10-15 villagers were able to attend.

On June 4, 2010, the project received Environmental Clearance, which was renewed in March 2016.

The power station was planned for completion in 2014, but in April 2015 was still listed as under construction. It is now planned for operation in 2016, later pushed to 2017.

Insolvency proceedings

In November 2017, it was reported that work at the site was on hold due to financial constraints. The commissioning date was listed as "uncertain". The power station is one of a number of Troubled Indian Coal Plant Construction Sites.

Andhra Pradesh State Power Generation Company was planning to acquire the 1.2 GW plant (co-owned by Athena Ventures, PTC India and IDFC) to resolve the stranded asset outside National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT). However, the Andhra Pradesh State Engineering Board (APSEB) in April 2020 wrote to the Andhra Pradesh Energy Secretary to advise against acquiring the asset. APSEB suggested that the acquisition of the power plant would be risky (as it still did not have a coal linkage), expensive, and techno-commercially unfeasible for the State’s grid.

In 2021 documents, the Central Electricity Authority noted the following about the project: "Admitted to NCLT on 15.05.2019; The Liquidator is under process and making efforts for Sale as a going concern."

Vedanta Acquisition

In July 2022, mining major Vedanta Limited acquired Athena Chhattisgarh Power Limited for Rs 5.65 billion to meet its captive power requirements. The project had two partially complete power units of 600 MW each. Vedanta reportedly outbid Jindal Power Limited (JPL) for the acquisition. In a regulatory filing announcing the acquisition, Vedanta stated, “The acquisition is expected to fulfil the power requirement for Vedanta’s aluminium business and through vertical integration, add synergies by providing a cost advantage pertaining to power consumption.” Athena Chhattisgarh Power was a special purpose vehicle promoted by Athena Energy Ventures Private Limited, a joint venture among Athena Projects Private Limited, PTC India Limited, and Infrastructure Development Finance Company Limited. Units 1 and 2 (600 MW each) of the power plant were 80 per cent and 30 per cent complete respectively and therefore, the plant had never been operational. The acquisition was likely to be completed during 2022-23.

The June 2023 and the November 2023 Broad Status reports stated that the plant was likely to be revived under Vedanta by FY 2030-31.

Continued development under Vedanta

In March 2023, Athena Chhattisgarh Power Limited (ACPL) applied to renew its Environmental Clearance for the 2 x 600 MW proposal in Singhitarai. The EAC granted ToR for conducting an EIA study for the project. (Documents related to the original permit were available in MOEF files J- 13011/7/2009-IA II (T) and J- 13011/7/2009-IA II (T)ia.) The Terms of Reference are dated May 10, 2023.

In September 2023, the Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change recommended that environmental clearance be granted. A formal letter was issued by January 2024.

Reporting in April 2024 announced that Vedanta had secured an 11-year term loan of Rs 3,900 crore from Power Finance Corporation Ltd (PFC) for the purpose of completing construction of the new units at the Athena Chhattisgarh and Meenakshi Energy coal plants.

Citizen opposition

According to the Environmental Justice Atlas, "The ministry of environment and forest (MoEF) had earlier granted approval to the ACPL project. The matter was challenged in the National Environment Appellate Authority (NEAA) by the Ngo Jan Chetanaa. The group challenged the environmental clearance on the ground that the MoEF approved the project without considering the mandates of public hearing. The Public Hearing was held on January 15, 2009 but was later cancelled by the chairperson in view of the documents not being made available to the affected public. However, the National Environment Appellate Authority (NEAA) went through the video recording of the Public Hearing and was convinced that there was discrepancy in what was recorded in the minutes of the public hearing and what was spoken in public by the officials. In fact, it was observed that there was massive opposition of the public to the project. Based on the complaint coupled with evidence, the NEAA stayed the clearance; in November 2009 the NEAA issued a one-page order stating that the proceedings of the public hearing did not have any validity. The NEAA then quashed the environmental clearance for the project on March 8, 2010. On April 5, 2010, the public hearings were held again, but 25-30 km away from the project site. Only 10-15 villagers were able to attend the meeting. On June 4, 2010, the project received Environmental Clearance."

Citizen groups

• Jan Chetana

Financing

According to Brickworks Rating report as per information available in 2015, the initial project cost was Rs. 6200 Crore, with Debt: Equity Ratio of 3:1. The financial closure was achieved in March 2011, and Project Loans were sanctioned by a consortium of banks led by State Bank of India. Other sources suggest that there were 17 other lenders involved. As of January 2022, total bank debt amounted to Rs 7,281 crore and it was most likely restructured as part of the company's insolvency proceedings. It was not clear if any bank debt was still outstanding following Vedanta's acquisition.

Reporting in April 2024 announced that Vedanta had secured an 11-year term loan of Rs 3,900 crore from Power Finance Corporation Ltd (PFC) for the purpose of completing construction of the new units at the Athena Chhattisgarh and Meenakshi Energy coal plants. It was unclear what amount of the loan would be used for the construction of the Athena Chattisgarh power station.

Articles and Resources

Additional data

To access additional data, including an interactive map of coal-fired power stations, a downloadable dataset, and summary data, please visit the Global Coal Plant Tracker on the Global Energy Monitor website.