Six bidders in fray for Dhopave project

Tuesday, August 28, 2007 2:13:00 AM
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Six bidders in fray for Dhopave project

Promit Mukherjee

Final list expected by this month-end

MUMBAI: Six of the eleven bidders, including Reliance Energy and Tata Power, who had evinced interest in the imported coal-based Dhopave coastal power plant, are now left in the fray.

Though a formal approval in this regard is yet to come from Maharashtra State Power Generation Company Ltd (MahaGenco), sources said apart from Reliance Energy and Tata, the other companies in the shortlist were GMR Energy, Torrent Power, Lanco Infratech and Jindal Power. A final list, however, is expected by the end of August.

MahaGenco has planned two mega power projects in the state under its Phase II of capacity augmentation plan, through which it is aiming to achieve an additional generation capacity of close to 6,000 MW by 2012. The two mega projects are the 1,040 MW of gas-based Uran expansion project and the 1,600 MW Dhopave Coastal Power project. The Uran project will be kicked off only once the gas issue is resolved.

For the Dhopave project, the state generation utility had invited bids from national and international power players in May, 2007. It had also formed a special purpose vehicle (SPV), Dhopave Coastal Power Company Ltd, for the implementation of the project.

The 1,600 MW imported Dhopave imported coal-based thermal power station would be located in Ratnagiri district in Konkan region. The project is strategically located, with a proximity to the petrochemical and the fertilizer industry. Since it is located near the coast, importing coal will also be easier and cheaper.

Due to these conducive factors, several power players have spotted its potential. It is barely 2 kms away from the Ratnagiri Gas and Power Private Ltd’s Dhabol Power Plant. The project will be having two units of 800 MW each and will be fuelled by highly efficient imported coal. “It will be upon the discretion of the selected company to decide whether to use super critical or sub critical technology,” the source said. Depending on the technology used, the cost for setting up of the project would be between Rs 6,500 cr to Rs 8,000 cr.

It would be commissioned before the end of 2012. It will be spread over an area of 500 hectares (ha) out of which the power station will occupy close to 230 ha. The final player would be chosen on the basis of tariff-based competitive bidding. It might take another 10 months to announce the winner. The selected company would be developing the project on build, own and operate basis from whom MahaGenco would be purchasing power for the procurer. The procurer in this case is the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (MahaVitaran).

The eleven companies who had bid for the project were Tata Power Company, Reliance Energy, Torrent Power, Jindal Power, Essar Power, Lanco Infratech, AES, China Light and Power, Adani Group, GMR and GSPC.

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