Maharashtra's electricity demand strains critical supply

NEW DELHI: Maharashtra’s electricity shortage has strained the operations of Ratnagiri Gas and Power Pvt Ltd, which is having to cope with high production demand despite its overworked systems.

A source said a unit of the company’s Dabhol power plant needs a shutdown. But the process might be postponed to the latter part of summer, exposing the unit to the risk of breakdown.

The other unit of the plant’s block 2 broke down earlier this year.

US multinational GE, which maintains the plant at Dabhol, has advised RGPPL to shut the functional unit to prevent a breakdown.

“As a proactive measure it is recommended that an inspection be carried out on the other unit,” a GE spokesman said. “This activity will take five to six days.”

As for the condition of the unit that has been shut, the spokesperson said the plant was revived in April 2006 after almost five years of shutdown.

“One of the gas turbines started malfunctioning and GE was given the final 'notice to proceed' to fix the equipment on March 14, 2007,” the spokesman said.

The source said there was excessive pressure on the power project to meet Maharashtra's demand. The project lenders feel that because the state does not pay the fixed cost on power generation, the infirm (temporary) arrangement should not be continued. The state has been paying only the incidental charges of 30p as against a fixed cost of 98.5p for power. “The state has now agreed to increase the incidental charges to around 71 paise,” a senior official said.

Another issue is the use of naphtha, which is deployed as an alternative to the scarce natural gas supply. But compared with gas, naphtha causes a greater degree of wear and tear to the plant, a hazard that lenders find disagreeable.

The source said that even if block 2 works (with both units becoming operational) to the full capacity of 740MW, it would hardly make any difference to the 5300MW peak-hour shortage in Maharashtra. “It is Maharastra's inability to add to its generation capacity that is the real problem,” an official said.

The GE spokesperson said the nature of the problem was unknown: “As the root-cause analysis of the malfunction is not yet complete, it is not possible to say why the malfunction occurred.”