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Lanco, GVK, GMR, Torrent, Ratnagiri Gas and Power (erstwhile Dhabol) and State entities are among the power producers who have committed to produce over 1.17 billion units of electricity using imported gas between June and September for ₹6.12 to ₹6.14 a unit.
While 14 stranded gas-based power plants participated in the e-auction called by the Power Ministry to facilitate import of gas through a subsidy scheme on Tuesday, 10 emerged as winners.
Of the about ₹6 a unit quoted by the plants, ₹4.7 a unit will come from the power purchase agreements they sign with electricity distribution utilities and the rest will come from Power System Development Fund (PSDF) support.
The government had capped the price for ₹5.5 a unit from the distribution utility and ₹0.94 a unit from the fund. It expected an outgo of ₹792 crore as PSDF support for the June to September period. For the full year, the support has been earmarked at ₹3,500 crore.
The electricity generation committed by the gas-based power plants is a small fraction of the 14.92 billion units of deficit faced during the same period last year. But it could make up for the expected shortfall in hydro power generation this year.
As against 59.123 billion units of hydro power generated in June-September last year, this year’s target is 57.71 billion units or about 1.3 billion units less.
However, power generators still remain sceptical about the success of the scheme. Industry sources said “noting the financial health of the State utilities it remains to been seen how many will actually buy this power, which is more expensive than current spot rates.”
To meet the demand deficit and revive the stuck projects, the government had come out with a scheme which offered premium on efficiency through financial support from PSDF.
The qualified bidders were asked to quote the additional electricity to be generated at the target plant load factor.
MSTC, the platform for the e-auction, calculated the required imported gas every 45 minutes. This process continued till the required imported gas reached 120 per cent of the available 8.9 mscmd (million standard cubic metres a day).
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