Ennore Plant Promoters Seek Govt Nod To Use Imported Lng As Fuel

HMG Power (Ennore) Ltd and China Light & Power (International) have sought the governments permission to use imported liquefied natural gas (LNG) as fuel for their 1,520-mw project in Ennore.

In a presentation made to the power ministry recently, the promoters said LNG was their favoured fuel for the project because of the proposed LNG terminal in Ennore as well as its easy availability.

The promoters said the ratio of LNGs availability to demand was quite high a nd that it was available and supplied on long-term contracts.

LNG, according to the promoters, has a high calorific value content, resulting in high plant operating efficiency. Besides, they say that it is environment-friendly, because of a low level of emissions; the amount carbon dioxide produced by it is 30-50 per cent less than that given out by other fuels.

Another major advantage of LNG, according to the promoters, is that there is no problem regarding disposal of ash, since no solid waste is generated by its use and the extent of land required is less, since there will be no LNG storage at the site.

The promoters have said that they would draw upon the experience of China Light in the use of LNG at its Black Point power plant in Hong Kong.

Black Point is the first plant fired by natural gas in Hong Kong. The supplier of the gas for the plant is a consortium of China National Offshore Oil Corporation, Atlantic Richfield Company and Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company.

The consortium is responsible for all aspects of extraction and piped delivery, from the wellhead to the Black Point site as well as the receiving facilities at Black Point.

The promoters have said that in the absence of the fuel linkage from the government, the project has not been able to make any headway.

This is so because the configuration of equipment, adherence to environment norms, techno-economic clearance from the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) and the financing plan depends on the fuel linkage.