LNG subsidy auction ends; lowest price bid at Rs 1.42/unit

Fierce bidding for receiving government subsidy to import LNG for restarting stranded gas-based plants concluded with the lowest price bid of Rs 1.42 per unit today.
Power firms like GMR, GVK, Lanco were in fray for the government subsidy.
The bidding round concluded with as many as three participants submitting the lowest price bid of Rs 1.42 per unit. Of the remaining seven bidders, six submitted financial bid at Rs 1.44 per unit and one Rs 1.45 per unit.
The auction for the entire 8.9 million standard cubic meters per day of imported gas, which will be utilised for running 8,108 MW capacity plants ended at 2015 hours, as per latest data on MSTC website.

In all, 14 plants technically qualified to participate in the first round of reverse e-auction where bidders were asked to quote subsidy in rupees per unit they need so that they can generate power at maximum of Rs 5.50 a unit.
The auction started at a base price of Rs 1.74 per unit considering a plant load factor (PLF) or capacity utilisation of 35 per cent of the installed capacity.

The names of winners were not immediately disclosed.
This round of auction will entail a subsidy outgo of Rs 792 crore for the government, said R N Choubey, Special Secretary in the Ministry of Power.

"There shall be no problem selling the power as the distribution companies have already signed purchase agreements with the bidders," he said.
After stranded power plants, 1.1 mmscmd of gas will be offered to plants that are receiving gas from domestic fields but at sub-optimal levels.