The Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company (MahaVitaran) has urged the Union ministries of power and petroleum to sanction further gas supply to the erstwhile Dabhol power project. Output, they say, has been severely hit due to cuts in supply from the Krishna-Godavari basin’s D6 field.
The Dabhol project, now known as Ratnagiri Gas & Power Pvt Ltd (RGPPL), is able to produce only 1,000 Mw of its 1,900 Mw capacity, as it is getting no more than six million standard cubic metres per day (mscmd) of gas. It and MahaVitaran say it needs another 1.5 mscmd to achieve full generation.
MahaVitaran procures 95 per cent of the power from the Ratnagiri project. Said a MahaVitaran official: “Load shedding in the state is of the order of 1,500-2,000 Mw in Maharashtra, of which 900 MW is due to lack of supply from the Ratnagiri project. We have sought the intervention of the ministries of power and petroleum and natural gas for early restoration of gas supply."
The other five per cent of RGPPL’s supply goes to Goa, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, and Daman & Diu. The project was revived in April 2006 after a five-year closure and was generating 1,900 Mw until recently. However, the dip in KG-D6 output and the subsequent fall in its supply have led to the present situation, the MahaVitaran official said.
An RGPPL official said if it continued to face constraints in availability of gas, it may have to explore a rise in per-unit rates to make up the cost of generation. "The procurement of regasified LNG is not a viable option in view of the current cost of $15 per million British thermal unit (mBtu) when compared to the KG-D6 price of $4.21 per mBtu. Therefore, the company is insisting on drawal of KG-D6 gas," he said.