More delays at Dabhol

The Dabhol power plant of the Ratnagiri Power and Gas Company (RGPPL) is in trouble once again with problems in the recently commissioned second unit and delays in commissioning the third.

It is now almost certain that the end-March deadline for making the entire 2,150 Mw capacity operational will be missed, said state government officials.

The plant has three units of 670 Mw, 740 Mw and 740 Mw. The first unit started functioning in May 2006 using naphtha, the second began generating power in November last year after gas for the plant became available.

"One of the units has been under repair for almost a month due to problems in the rotor blades of the turbine. This has reduced the power supply to Mahavitaran (the state-owned power distribution company) from 1,300 Mw to 900 Mw," said officials in the energy ministry of the Maharashtra government.

The repair bill for the unit could be over Rs 100 crore and could take as long as a year, sources said. RGPPL Managing Director S K Agarwal said, "We are still mapping the damage."

The third unit, which was to be commissioned this month, is unlikely to start operations before May 2008, said officials.

This is bad news for power-starved Maharashtra, which was relying on Dabhol, formerly owned by US energy major Enron, to bridge part of the huge demand-supply gap in power.

The state faces a power shortage of 5,000 Mw, and will have to look at alternate sources to secure power during crucial summer months.

Gas utility GAIL India and power utility NTPC are the majority shareholders in RGPPL with 28.3 per cent stake each.