Govt to revive 9 stranded gas based power plants

To ensure power for all, the Central Government announced revival of nine stranded gas based power generation plants with an installed capacity of 5,070 mw on Sunday here. 

These plants were bid through a transparent and competitive reverse e-auction process. These plants would generate 8.81 billion units of electricity which will be supplied at or below Rs 4.70 per unit to the purchaser Discoms during the period from October 1, 2016 to March 31, 2017.

“This will involve government support of Rs. 187.14 crore from the Power System Development Fund. The fourth phase of Reverse E-Auction for the Stranded Gas based plants was conducted under Scheme for Utilization of Stranded Gas based Generation Capacity,” said an official.  

The auction process successfully concluded on September 3, 2016 wherein nine plants emerged as preferred bidders and were allocated 9.93 mmscmd e-bid RLNG. The present reverse e-auction for the Stranded Gas based Plants is the fourth phase of auctions conducted under Scheme for Utilization of Stranded Gas Based Generation Capacity. 

The grid connected gas based power generation capacity in the country is 24,150 mw. Of this, a capacity of 14,305 mw had no supply of domestic gas. 

These comprise 29 plants which were eligible to participate in the auction process held on Sunday. 

Fourteen plants with a cumulative installed capacity of 7575 mw participated in the auction process for Phase IV. The successful bidders include power plants in Southern region. 

The generation from these plants would improve the power availability in the Southern grid, mitigating to a large extent the shortage of availability and constraint of evacuating the power to the Southern region from other regions. 

“Government of India is committed to the revival of such stranded power plants as a measure to ensure 24X7 power to all,” the power ministry official added.