The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Rs. 45 crore to be paid shortly for naphtha

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Sunday, Nov 18, 2007
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Rs. 45 crore to be paid shortly for naphtha

M. Malleswara Rao

Move to meet possible power shortage during rabi

HYDERABAD: Preparing the ground to run some power stations with alternative fuel to meet possible electricity shortage during rabi, AP Transco has made an advance payment of Rs 11.8 crores to the HPCL for purchase naphtha.

It is also remitting a further amount of Rs 45 crores to the HPCL shortly. As the naphtha price has gone up to a high of Rs 43,000 a tonne, a major chunk of Rs 2,698 crores, earmarked in the current year budget for purchase of power from external sources, will go towards naphtha.

Over four tonnes of naphtha is required for one MW of installed capacity at a plant. AP Transco wants to use this costly fuel to operate at least 500 MW a day during rabi when the shortage is expected to touch 800 MW during peak hours. With naphtha as fuel, generation cost works out to Rs 7 to 8 per unit but the cost-to-serve will be much higher at Rs 10-12 per unit with the inclusion of transmission and distribution losses and all other costs incurred to supply to the end-consumer.

Sources in the Transco disclosed that arrangements have been made to get naphtha, to start with, to the 349-MW Lanco station at Kondapalli near Vijayawda from HPCL’s Visakhapatnam refinery through the existing pipeline. The HPCL has been asked to maintain a stock point at Rajahmundry too to serve other projects listed for naphtha use like GVK, Spectrum and Reliance Energy.

A decision has been taken to supply naphtha to Vemagiri project also if necessary and to run the plants of the GVK Extension, Gauthami and Konaseema with gas, as formalities have not yet been completed in these cases deleting the alternative-fuel clause from their power purchase agreements.

The sources said the Transco, at the same time, has also made indents to purchase power from several external sources like NVVNL, Tata Power, Power Trading Corporation, Adani and Madhya Pradesh Power Trading Corporation. With 7-hour supply to the agriculture sector, the demand for power is expected to reach an all-time high of 200 million units day towards the peak of rabi.

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