Five gas-based power plants, which are receiving some domestic fuel, have qualified for the government’s auction process for sourcing imported gas to generate more electricity.
In the auctions that closed on Wednesday, eight such plants with a total capacity of around 4,900 MW owned by NTPC, CLP India Power and Torrent Power participated in the bids. The units quoted a generating cost of ₹5.14 to ₹5.36 a unit, with a commitment to flow additional electricity between June 1 and September 30 at a plant load factor of 35 per cent.
Of this price, ₹3.39 will come from power purchase agreements signed with state electricity distribution utilities and the rest as support from the Power System Development Fund (PSDF).
NTPC said two of its projects have been qualified for the government’s scheme with PSDF support of ₹1.96 a unit. The two projects are under the domestic gas project category. The company said its 663 MW Auraiya project will get 28.41 million standard cubic metres of gas while the 830 MW Dadri unit will get 2.08 million standard cubic metres.
The plants had to quote the incremental electricity they would produce at 35 per cent target plant load factor. Following this the available gas had been adjusted accordingly.
Meanwhile, the projected production of domestic natural gas in 2015-16 is 97.43 mscmd, Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan informed the Rajya Sabha.
The Minister said that the normative requirement of gas for the power sector at 70-75 per cent plant load factor is 81.5 mscmd and after commissioning of another 5,449 MW this would go up to 102.9 mscmd.
For the fertiliser sector, the requirement is 49.321 mscmd and would increase by 14.4 mscmd by the end of 2017-18.