India is discussing with Indonesia the possibility of relocating its natural gas-based power plants to the South-East Asian nation.

This was one of the subjects discussed at the 1st India Indonesia Energy Forum, held in Jakarta on Friday, said a statement from the Government of India.

It quotes the Indonesian Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources, Ignasius Jonan, as saying that a 19-member team of energy officials from Indonesia will visit India soon, and one of the topics discussed will be the relocation of gas-fired power plants.

India has 25,329 MW of gas-based power plants, of which 14,305 MW are technically “stranded” — fully or partly inoperative due to want of gas supply. These plants are estimated to have consumed investments of ₹1.24 lakh crore. In 2016-17, they operated at a mere 22.51 per cent plant load factor, producing 49 billion units of electricity.

The idea of relocating some of the plants to other countries has been knocking about for some time.

Stranded plants

Reliance Power, which has set up a mega 2,400-MW plant at Samalkot in the East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh, was reported to be mulling the idea of shifting it to Bangladesh. The plant was to be fed by the gas that was expected to be produced from Reliance Industries’ D-6 field in offshore K-G basin.

An industry observer said Reliance Power was behind the push for relocating plants to Indonesia.

Lanco’s 1,458-MW Kondapalli and Essar’s 515-MW Hazira plants are also stranded.

The relocation of gas plants to Indonesia is also seen as a means of balancing trade between the two countries. India imports a lot of coal from Indonesia — worth $3.5 billion in 2016.

Of the total bilateral trade of $15.90 billion in 2015-16, Indonesia’s exports to India amounted to $13.06 billion, with India’s exports coming to just $2.84 billion.

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