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Essar Power Gujarat Ltd (EPGL) on Tuesday announced turning profitable with a net profit of Rs 1 crore in the first quarter ended June 30, 2016, against a net loss of Rs 126 crore in the corresponding quarter in the previous fiscal.
EPGL owns and operates a 1,200-MW imported coal-fired thermal power plant at Salaya, Gujarat.
The company recorded a 90 per cent growth in EBITDA for the quarter due to significantly higher plant availability, a 32 per cent increase in energy sales, and a 13 per cent reduction in coal cost per unit because of widening coal basket, e-auction based procurement, falling coal prices and substantial efficiency improvements.
In Q1 FY17, plant availability improved by 82 per cent, leading to a robust growth in sales, which stood at Rs 522 crore quarter-on-quarter — up from Rs 396 crore in Q1 FY16.
Operational efficiencies, especially the heat rate, improved by about 1.5 per cent following turbine overhaul in one of the units.
Finance costs for Q1 FY17 were lower by 12 per cent, leading to a PAT of Rs 1 crore against a net loss of Rs 126 crore in the corresponding quarter in the previous fiscal, Sushil Maroo, Executive Vice Chairman, Essar Power, said.
Ramesh Kumar, Managing Director, EPGL, said the company’s focus is to further bring down the operation and maintenance costs, which have been consistently below CERC norms.
EPGL has received the Award for Excellence in Energy Efficiency at the 17th CII National Awards held at Hyderabad, and another award for the Most Useful Presentation at the same event.
Essar Power Gujarat owns and operates the 2x600 MW thermal power plant at Salaya in Devbhumi Dwarka district of Gujarat.
EPGL, a subsidiary of Essar Power, has an ongoing 25-year PPA with the country’s highest rated discom, Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Ltd (GUVNL; Rating A1+), for 90 per cent of its capacity.
Essar Power Ltd owns power plants in India and Canada with a total generation capacity of 6,100 MW, of which 4,675 MW is operational.
Of the total operational capacity, 3,075 MW is coal-based, while 1,600 MW is gas-based. The operating plants in India are located in Mahan, Chhatisgarh, and Hazira, Salaya and Vadinar in Gujarat.
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