Deora promises more gas for state power plants
Petroleum minister Murli Deora has promised more natural gas to power plants in Maharashtra to tide over the acute electricity shortage in the state that has seen load shedding even in so far untouched Mumbai.
By Agencies |
NEW DELHI: Petroleum minister Murli Deora has promised more natural gas to power plants in Maharashtra to tide over the acute electricity shortage in the state that has seen load shedding even in so far untouched Mumbai.
At a special meeting called by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on May 11, Mr Deora agreed to divert some of the gas meant for Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilisers (RCF) to Maharashtra State Electricity Board (MSEB) for raising power generation, highly placed sources said.
Besides, a pipeline from Gujarat will be completed by June 20 to begin LNG supplies to Dabhol power plant in the state that would immediately give 1500 MW of additional power. Maharashtra faces a peak deficit of 4776 MW of power.
Sources said Gail supplies 4.8 million standard cubic meters per day of gas to RCF. Out of this 0.25 mmscmd is being presently given to MSEB. This gas is proposed to be doubled to meet summer demand. Gas will be returned to RCF after monsoon.
Mr Deora, they said, last week commenced supply of gas through the first 100-km of the 576-km Dahej to Dabhol pipeline. With the Gujarat government agreeing to support the 12-km unfinished section of the pipeline in Gujarat, the line would be ready by june 20.
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By June end, regassified LNG will begin flowing to Dabhol plant’s two units of 750 MW each. Gas supply for the third unit of 750 MW would be available once the unit is ready, by December 2007, sources said. The meeting was also attended by power minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, agriculture minister Sharad Pawar, deputy chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia and state chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh. When contacted, Mr Deora said the “Prime Minister is concerned about Mumbai’s power supply, that’s why he called the meeting”. On May 7, the first stretch of the Dahej-Panevel-Dabhol pipeline, that is to feed natural gas to the beleaguered power project in Maharashtra, was commissioned.
“We started gas flow in the Dahej to Surat length of the pipeline and gas supplies to Dabhol power plant will start by June-end,” he said. With gas flowing from Dahej, where Petronet LNG imports and regassifies LNG (liquefied natural gas), into the first stretch of the 576-km Dahej-Panvel-Dabhol pipeline, decks have been cleared for resumption of the work on a 12-km stretch of the pipeline in Chourasiya taluka in Surat district.
But for the small stretch of 12-km, almost all of the pipeline is laid. Work on the 12-km length was stalled as Gujarat government opposed the project on the grounds that the gas pricing formula worked out for Dabhol would result in rise in price of gas for industries in the state.
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