Cost of power from Dabhol to cross Rs 3 per Kwh

New Delhi, Aug 13 (UNI) The cost of power from the gas-driven Dabhol plant in Ratnagiri will be above Rs three per Kwh while the delivered price of LNG at Dahej from Petronet LNG through off taker--GAIL, IOCL and BPCL-- is expected to be about Rs 263 per MMBTU.

In a written reply to the Rajya Sabha, Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde said a power purchase agreement (PPA) and a supplementary agreement has been signed between Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd and Ratnagiri Gas and Power Pvt Ltd (RGPPL) on April 10, 2007 and July 18, 2007 respectively in line with various decisions taken by the stakeholders.

The PPA is based on a capacity charge of 101.6 p/Kwh (subject to revision due to restructuring excersise being undertaken), Mr Shinde said.

The power plant in Maharashtra is likely to start generating electricity using gas as feedstock from the second week of August, once its promoters sort out payment issues.

GAIL India, an equal promoter in Ratnagiri Gas and Power Pvt Ltd (the firm that owns the Dabhol power plant), on July 10 transported the first installment of gas to the plant through a 577-km conduit from Dahej in Gujarat.

The plant could not take gas supplies as RGPPL could not provide guarantees for payment for the fuel.

RGPPL could not furnish the letter of credit as it had not got a similar guarantee from its customer for power purchase, the Maharashtra State Electricity Board.

Petronet LNG Ltd is importing gas as liquefied natural gas in ships from RasGas of Qatar at its Dahej terminal under a short-term deal.

IOC, GAIL and BPCL will supply the gas to RGPPL after transporting it through the GAIL pipeline, for which Ratnagiri Gas and Power has already signed agreements with the three companies for receipt of the gas.

The first unit of the Dabhol plant began operations with Naphtha in May 1999, but was shut down in May 2001 after its sole customer, the MSEB, refused to buy power saying it was expensive.

After US energy giant Enron went bust, the project was taken over by Ratnagiri Gas and Power, a joint venture between state-owned power major NTPC Ltd, GAIL and Indian banks.

Ratnagiri Gas and Power had restarted generation from Naphtha in May last year. GAIL is to look after Dabhol's gas supply and completion of the Dabhol LNG terminal, while NTPC has been the task of running the power plant.

UNI