RGPPL inks pact with GE to repair, modernise gas turbines at Dabhol

Deal worth Rs 350 crore.

The Ratnagiri Gas and Power Private Ltd (RGPPL), the erstwhile Dabhol power plant, will start running at its full capacity of 2,100 Mw, from the current 925 Mw, only by March next year.

RGPPL has entered into an agreement with the US-based General Electric (GE) to repair and modernise six gas turbines at Dabhol at a cost of about $75 million (Rs 350 crore), said A K Ahuja, managing director, RGPPL.

The final clearance on this is expected from the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) within a few days.

Three of the six turbines are defunct and one has been despatched to Singapore for repair. Another turbine will be sent across within a few days. By January next year, first of the repaired turbines will start functioning and the remaining two will go on stream before the next summer, he said.

The total availability of power in Maharashtra is around 11,500 Mw and the state has been experiencing a peak summer deficit of more than 4,000-5,000 Mw every year, said sources.

The cash-starved RGPPL requires about Rs 720 crore as capital expenditure for this year, which will include the payment to GE for repair, buying of spares worth another $40 million (Rs180 crore) and the rest for operational expenses, Ahuja said.

Based on the guarantee offered by the Maharashtra government, the Power Finance Corporation (PFC) has sanctioned about Rs 300 crore. Of this, Rs 50 crore has been passed on to RGPPL.

The recent agreement with Reliance Industries (RIL) to supply 2.7 million metric standard cubic meters per day (mmscmd) of gas from RIL’s Krishna-Godavari(K-G) basin will help ease the fuel shortage for the beleaguered power producer.

Under the agreement, RGPPL will get 2.7 mmscmd of K-G gas initially and upto 5.6 mmscmd by October and 8.5 mmscmd by March next year.

Dabhol, which was renamed as RGPPL following the exit of Enron from India, had restarted prodution in 2006.

But unavailability of fuel and frequent breakdown of the gas turbines caused the plant produce power much below its installed capacity of 2,100 Mw.