An Austrian and a Chinese company are bidding for a Rs 100 crore fluidised bed boiler thermal power project for the West Bengal Power Development Corporation (WBPDCL) at Kolaghat. The corporation expects to make the selection and place the order by the end of 1997.
This is the first time that a Chinese company has made a bid for a power project in Bengal. Besides Hainan Enterprise Corporation of Beijing, the other bidder is Vatech International (formerly Voest Alpine) of Austria. The successful bidder will have to arrange the entire finance for the project. The project cost is expected to be under Rs 100 crore and does not require any clearance from the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) because of its small size.
In all, four companies submitted bid in response to the global tender floated by the corporation. The two Indian bidders were rejected after the technical bids were opened. Discussions are almost complete on the technical bids of the two foreign companies.
Also Read
The price bids will be opened by the end of September and a decision taken by the end of this year. The orders will also be placed simultaneously. The single 25 mw unit is expected to be commissioned in 24 months, or, in the first quarter of 2000.
WBPDCL will start repaying the loan after a six month moratorium from the date of commissioning. The loans are expected to carry an interest of 10-11 per cent. The repayment will be spread over 10 years.
The project is unique for various reasons. Firstly, this will probably be the first fluidised bed thermal power project under the state government. Another joint venture fluidised bed boiler project with a single unit of 150 mw at Gouripore has yet to take off.
Secondly, the small generating unit will be consuming all the coal rejects accumulating at the main six-unit 1260 mw power station at Kolaghat. The disposal of coal rejects is posing a serious problem. The 25 mw unit will consume all the rejects; it will also require some amount of regular coal to burn in its boiler.
If the experiment proves to be a success, similar small fluidised bed boiler units may be set up at large power stations to dispose of the coal rejects.
Thirdly, the small unit will provide start-up power for the Kolaghat power plant in case the entire station trips due to a grid failure or other emergencies. The drawal of start-up power has posed a serious problem whenever there has been a grid collapse in the state and in the rest of the eastern region.
Although the unit will normally be run along with other six 210 mw units at the station, arrangements will be made to run the unit in isolation with a small dedicated load of 20-25 mw.
If this unit trips along with rest of the system during an emergency, it will be easier to re-commission the unit because of its small size. A large unit takes around 12 hours to re-commission and requires a substantial quantum of start-up power. However, the 25 mw unit will not only take a shorter time to be in full load, but can start drawing power from a diesel generator which can be kept as an emergency stand-by.