Vedanta announced it will partially close a power plant at Jharsuguda upon the notice from the State Pollution Control Board, Odisha (SPCB) on September 13, 2017.
The company will close three units of 135 MW each of the 1215 MW power plant, and two units of 600 MW each of the 2400 MW power plant.
The direction to close the plant came following a breach in the Ash Pond dyke wall at the end of August
The remaining units of the 1215 MW plant have been allowed to operate until 12 October 2017, and the remaining units of the 2400MW plant have been allowed to operate until 20 September 2017.
The SPCB has asked the Company for compliance of certain conditions with a concrete plan within 5 days. The Company is complying with the order of SPCB along with a request for revoking the said closure orders.
This action may require a temporary power purchase of upto 200 MW, and hence a marginal impact on cost of production of aluminium. The Company expects to be able to sustain the smelter capacity without affecting its production volume, Vedanta said in a statement.
The Company is working towards the lifting of the SPCB closure orders at the earliest, to ensure that aluminium production is not affected.