Wartsila India, part of the Helsinki-based €4.6 billion Wartsila, is upbeat on the business prospects for flexible de-centralised power plants in India with its consultancy, EPC (equipment, procurement and construction) services and integrated power solutions.

“The company, which has supplied over 3,500 mw of decentralised power plants in the country thus far, with about 288 mw last year, is now looking at serving the emerging opportunity, particularly to support the peak demand times. Utilities and independent power plants (IPPs) are keen to deploy such projects,” Mr. Rakesh Sarin, Managing Director of Wartsila India, said.

Addressing a press conference here today, Mr. Sarin said decentralised power plants using high speed diesel or liquefied natural gas and with capacities ranging from 50 mw to 500 mw have the capability to be deployed much faster than the conventional thermal power plants or even gas based projects. While land acquisition has become a challenge for thermal plants, most developers are facing uncertainty. “Therefore, they are looking at alternative options such as decentralised units, which require lesser area and are faster to deploy, he explained.

“We at Wartsila believe that decentralised plants using diesel could be set up rapidly but also work out about 50 per cent cheaper than say a thermal power plant. The cost of decentralised plants is estimated to be about Rs.3 crore per MW against Rs.5 crore to Rs.6 crore for thermal power plant,” he said.

“Such plants also provide great relief in power management during peak demand hours and also provide flexibility to other plants. Since we can deploy them faster, more utilities are now looking this options. At least three projects in Tamil Nadu and one in South have opted for this,” he said.

Decentralised plants have operational flexibility with fast starts, stops and restarts. While being connected to the grid, they can be set up as captive units or for general supplies.

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