Dabhol Power Project Four Months Ahead Of Schedule
The first phase of Dabhol power project (740mw) is four months ahead of schedule and is all set for commissioning by December, 1998. Under the renogotiated deal, the project has to be commissioned by March 31, 1999.
Speaking to newsmen at Guhaghar in Ratnagiri district, Dabhol Power Company (DPC) officials said over 80 per cent of the project was complete. Construction, including engineering and procurement is 62 per cent complete. Over 18.7 million construction man hours have been expended. The site labour force averaged 4350 during this period with a local labour averaging 33 per cent. Approximately, 28,500 cubic metres of concrete have been placed, 2325 tonnes of structural steel erected and 23,000 metres of underground and over ground piping have been laid, Enron officials at the construction site in Anjanvel stated.
The Dabhol power project (DPP) is committed to a zero accident tolerance, officials added.
One steam and two gas turbines, high recovery steam generators, cooling tower, fuel tanks and a single point mooring, where the fuel would be unloaded, were all nearing completion.
Phase I of the project consists of two 9FA turbines from General Electric, each of 226.5 mw capacity, two heat recovery steam generators and a steam turbine. The combined cycle gas turbine would generate 740 mw of power using naphtha as fuel. The naphtha consumption per day is expected to be 4000 tonnes. However, no decision has been taken on its procurement source, DPC officials said.
Phase II would involve raising the capacity to twice its current size and the entire facility would then use liquid natural gas as fuel. The Dabhol power project (DPP) is a multi-fuel facility, capable of using either naphtha or distillate in phase one and natural gas in phase two.
The fuel unloading and storage facilities were in advanced stages of completion, DPC sources said, adding that phase two of the project shall involve the setting up of an LNG terminal.
DPP resumed construction on phase one in December, 1996. The Maharashtra government had scrapped the project in August, 1995.
The renegotiated project has a total capacity of 2,450 mw and is jointly promoted by MSEB (30 per cent) and US Companies, Enron International (50 per cent), Bechtel Enterprises (10 per cent) and General Electric, (10 per cent).
Bechtel has bagged the engineering, procurement and construction contract. GE is supplying the turbines to the contract.
DPP is one of the eight fast track projects approved by the Government of India and is the only one for which counter guarantees have been sanctioned by the Centre to take off. It would be the single largest power station in the country.
It is the first instance where the tariff structure is on a fixed basis compared with the cost-plus variable tariff structure that is prevalent in the Indian power sector, the sources said.
It was also the first instance of a private promoter bearing the fuel supply risk and giving performance guarantees. The power plant is expected to operate at an average plant load factor of 90 per cent.
However, the contract for the project was not awarded under the competitive bidding route but under the MoU route by the Sharad Pawar government. This had led to controversy with the Shiv-Sena-BJP combine accusing of lack of transparency.