Reliance Energy to ink pacts with MIDC for two plants

FROM THE POWER FRONT

Reliance Energy Ltd (REL) will ink memorandum of understanding (MoU) with MIDC within a week for its two group captive power plants (GCPP) coming up at the Butibori and Patalganga (New Mumbai) industrial areas.

The coal-based 130 mw GCPP that will be set up at Butibori will have an investment of Rs 585 crore while the gas-based 175 mw plant at Patalganga will cost Rs 550 crore.

MIDC has already reserved 150 acre of land at Butibori for the plant while 61 acre has been kept aside at Patalganga. The GCPP at Butibori will have the potential of supplying electricity to around 1,000 units in Butibori and Hingna, senior officials of MIDC said after analysing the present demand and future projections. The project in Butibori will go on-stream in 36 months.

Sanjay Patil, chief planner of MIDC, Mumbai, said that the electricity of both the plants will be reliable and the tariff will be cheaper than the MSEB.

He said four more GCPPs of 100 mw each will come up at Ranjangaon, Hinjawadi (both in Pune), Tarapore and Badlapur (both in Thane). "We have already floated pre-qualification bids for these projects and have received a good response," he said.

Big names including Reliance Energy, Tata, Birla, L&T, Wartsila Ltd etc, have evinced interest in these projects, he said. "The names will be shortlisted after completion of required procedure," he added. Patil said MIDC had also planned to revive power plants which had become non-functional due to various reasons.

According to Patil, this was for the first time that a GCPP was being promoted in Maharashtra. Under the GCPP concept, the consumer becomes a stake-holder in the project by buying some equity.

"This is with reference to the amendment to the new Electricity Bill 2002 wherein industrial consumers are allowed to generate electricity by becoming a stake-holder," he said.

MERC is promoting GCPPs in Maharashtra on MIDC land to attract new industrial units, he revealed.

The effort has been welcomed by the local industry as a good start. President of Vidarbha Industries Association (VIA), Mohan Agrawal said, the project appears good on paper and that the MIDC should now implement it.

"It is indeed tragic that the industry in Vidarbha too have to face power outages despite being located in the powerhouse of Maharashtra," he said.

President of MIDC Industries Association (MIA) Chander Khosla also welcomed the effort and hoped that it would come on-stream as planned. "We have been hearing about the project since a few months now, but nothing concrete has been done. This is a good step and would go a long way in mitigating the hardships, industry has to undergo because of frequent power cuts and poor quality of power supply," he said.

Hemant Ambaselkar, senior member and former secretary of Butibori Manufacturers' Association (BMA), said that the project, when it becomes operational, would help in attracting more capital to the industrial area.

"There is no point in investing at Butibori in Vidarbha when you don't even have regular power supply," he said. Ambaselkar said that the industry would study the details of the project and appropriately take equity in the GCPP.