Gas-based power plants seek more gas from ONGC's Deepwater

Expressing concern over the dropping of plant load factor (PLF) of gas-based power plants, the Association of Power Producers sought more allocation of gas from the ONGC's deepwater wells'production.

In a letter to the Ministry of Power on September 28, the APP said India has about 25 GW installed capacity of Gas-based plants, which are either stranded or not operating at the economic levels due to short supply of Natural Gas from domestic sources or because of prohibitive prices from international sources.

"PLF of Gas based plants has dropped by 43per cent during last 7 years (66per centin FY11to 23per centin FY 18).

As the ONGC production from Deepwater Gas increases, and same can be allocated to power sector,(so that)the share of RLNG(Regasified Liquefied Natural Gas)will reduce thereby making the tariff more competitive.

The proposed mechanism shall serve dual purpose of reviving entire Gas based Power sector and also assist further addition of renewable energy capacity.

"Revival of Gas-based Power sector would also have a multiplier effect on the dependent sectors like banking, pipeline infrastructure and LNG terminals,"the APP said.

The existing 5.45 MMSCMD( Million Metric Standard Cubic Meter Per Day)of ONGC Gas should be allocated to power sector and a separate bucket for the sector needed for ONGC gas from Deep Water Fields which is expected to produce another 16 MMSCMD Gas by 2020, the APP said.

The power producers body alsosaid the current margin of Rs 0.35isnotsufficient for debt servicing and hence the government's support in the form of budgetary allocation or Power System Development Fund along with preferential Gas price for the sector is very much needed.

"By exploring and implementing the above mentioned options, this will not only help in reviving of stranded Gas based projects but would certainly assist in Govt of India's initiative of achieving 175 GW from Renewables by 2022,"the body said.

Gas based plants are making every possible effort to sell the power to the prospective consumers such as Discoms and Open Access Consumers at a competitive rate.

However, as the price of Gas being Dollar denominated and long term visibility of the price is difficult, having a long term PPA with Discoms will continue to be a challenge for Gas-based plants, they saidin their letter written to Sanjiv Nandan Sahai, Additional Secretary.