The Dabhol power plant in Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra expects to pay its promoters their first dividend this year. The turnaround has been possible due to availability of domestic gas on priority.
A senior executive of Ratnagiri Gas & Power Pvt (RGPPL) said this would become possible as the plant would be in a position to produce 1,756 Mw from July.
RGPPL has retired expensive working capital loans. It had a Rs 650 crore operating loss as on April 2010. It is now left with about Rs 146 crore loss. “We will be in a position to pay dividend from our profit this year, as we will be able to wipe out the remaining loss this financial year,” he said.
| TIMELINE | |
| 2002 | |
| * US-based Enron Corporation files for bankruptcy | |
| 2002 | |
| * Maharashtra refuses to buy high-cost power generated from Dabhol power plant; Enron-promoted Dabhol Power Company shuts plant. It lies closed for three years. | |
| 2005 | |
| * NTPC, GAIL, Maharashtra government come together to form RGPPL; plant repaired and revived in phases starting October 2005 | |
| Current shareholding in RGPPL | |
| NTPC | 30.17% |
| GAIL | 30.17% |
| MSEB Holding Company Ltd | 17.90% |
| Financial institutions | 21.77% |
The company made a profit before tax of Rs 566 crore in 2010-11 and Rs 48.8 crore in 2009-10. NTPC and GAIL Ltd hold 30.17 per cent each in the company, created to revive the plant after it was shut down in 2002.
In the 90s, this Enron Corporation project was the biggest planned foreign direct investment into the country. In 2002, the Maharashtra government’s refusal to pay for high-cost, naphtha-based power forced the plant’s first phase to shut down. That time, power was being generated at Rs 8 a unit. Now, the plant generates at about Rs 3.5 a unit.
Cheaper generation has been possible as the plant has been allotted 8.5 million standard cubic metres a day of gas from Reliance Industries’ D6 field. The empowered group of ministers (EGoM) on gas allocation has given top priority to RGPPL, on par with fertiliser companies. The plant has been revived under the supervision of an EGoM.
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Reliance gas was available at $6.5 a British thermal unit, said an RGPPL executive, who said the turnaround would not have been possible without the availability of domestic gas.
RGPPL had also sought fresh gas to increase capacity to 2,100 Mw, said the executive. Though the plant has a regassification terminal, it is not working. “We will be in a position to start the terminal some time in 2012-13,” said the executive.