Dabhol may triple production in four months

Maharashtra's power woes are likely to ease by October, as Ratnagiri Gas & Power(RGPPL), the owner of the 2,150 mw Dabhol power plant, is planning to more than triple the generation from the plant in less than four months.

The company will invest Rs 10 crore towards a repair of a steam turbine will help restart the defunct gas turbines, and generate 1,300 mw of power by September end or by first week of October, said RGPPL managing director A K Ahuja. At present, the plant produces 640 mw of power.

"We are carrying out this repair currently and have tied up with Petronet LNG to supply fuel for the 1300 mw. By December, we are hopeful of producing over 2000 mw," he said.

 

A few days ago, the Maharashtra state government decided to provide guarantee to a loan of Rs 300 crore from the Power Finance Corporation (PFC), to carry out maintenance of the damaged plants. The loan is to repair a 300 mw unit in block-II and a 600 mw block-III at Dabhol, which are dysfunctional due to breakdowns of machinery.

The State cabinet has to formally approve the decision and it is likely to be conveyed within a few days. RGPPL is also talking to equipment supplier General Electric (GE) for speedy availability of spares at discounted rates, said Ahuja.

The beleaguered power plant of Enron was taken over in 2005 by the Government through RGPPL - promoted by NTPC, GAIL, MSEB Holding Company Ltd and four banks. Despite infusion of over Rs800 crore, RGPPL's power plants are yet to function to full capacity due to  frequent breakdowns and inadequate availability of fuel.

Dhabol, located about 300 kilometers from Mumbai at village Anjanwel in the district Ratnagiri, uses liquefied natural gas(LNG) as primary fuel and naphtha as secondary fuel to power the plants.

RGPPL requires about 2.9 million metre standard cubic metre per day (mmscmd) of gas for running two blocks of 350 mw each plants, but the gas available to the power producer from Gas Authority of India Limited (Gail), the Indian Oil Corporation and Hindustan Petroleum are less than 1.5 mmscmd.

Maharashtra is currently experiencing shortage of 4000 to 5000 mw of power, which caused to enforce load shedding ranging from 2-8 hours every day in rest of the state, other than the island city of Mumbai.