Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has announced that NTPC and Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL) will form a joint venture (JV) to set up a 800 MW ultra super Critical thermal power plant. The Central government has assured to provide financial support for the project.

The commercial plant will be built using the advanced ultra supercritical (AUSC) technology, which has been developed indigenously through a consortium of Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, BHEL and NTPC. The government has spent Rs 1,554 crore on developing the technology.

Ultra supercritical power plants operate at temperatures and pressures above the critical point of water, that is, above the temperature and pressure at which the liquid and gas phases of water coexist in equilibrium.

India's first  such plant was commissioned by NTPC in Madhya Pradesh with 660 MW capacity in 2019.