GSECL plans 300 mw power plant

VADODARA: Gujarat State Electric Corporation, a company promoted by Gujarat Electricity Board, would set up a 300 mw gas-based power station during the 10th Five Year Plan period, GSECL managing director Prem Kumar Taneja told TNN on Sunday.
While the company has already taken over GEB’s 135 mw gas-based power station at Utran in South Gujarat, the construction of the 107 mw gas-based station at Dhuvaran is on in full swing, he said.
The company achieved a record 98.1 per cent plant load factor (plf) between April and May this year, Taneja said. This plf was achieved at a time when the demand of power is usually at its peak due to the summer season.
According to a statement issued by R Poonalingam, additional secretary of the Union power ministry, GEB’s plf stood at 72.1 per cent, while Bihar State Electricity Board figured at the bottom of the list with just 12.9 per cent plf between April and May this year.
The Dhuvaran plant is expected to be connected to the state grid soon. The open-cycle operations of the plant would start by April 2003, while the combined-cycle operations are expected by July 2003, Taneja said.
The project’s implementation schedule is very short, with a gestation period of 18 months for the open-cycle operations and 21 months for the combined-cycle operations.
Bombay Suburban Electricity Supply Co Ltd (BSES) is also associated with the project as a partner of Bhel.
Taneja said that the project is being set up on the basis of the availability of natural gas and other infrastructure at the site. Gas Authority of India Ltd (Gail) and Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation Ltd (GSPC) have agreed to supply gas for the plant.
The plant would require about five lakh standard cubic metres of gas per day. Gail and GSPC would supply 2.5 lakh standard cubic metres of gas per day each to the plant, he said.
The total project cost is estimated at Rs 310 crore, which works out to Rs 2.91 crore per mega watt of power. Usually such projects cost about Rs 3.50 crore per mega watt, Taneja claimed.
The plant would have the latest gas turbines with the state-of-the-art technology. The revised bidding process by inviting fresh quotes from the same parties who applied earlier resulted in savings of about Rs 21 crore as a direct reduction in the cost of power.