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Gas shortage hits NTPC plants

NEW DELHI: At a time when the country is faced with a severe shortage of power, the leading power generation company National Thermal Power Corporation’s (NTPC) six gas-based power plants with a total installed capacity of 3,605 MW are lying under-utilised due to shortage of natural gas.

Official sources said that even the contracted quantity of gas was not being fully supplied leading to lower operational capacity of the power stations.

Sources said the estimated gas requirement to operate these plants at 90 per cent plant load factor (PLF) was around 17.35 million standard cubic metres daily (mscmd).

There are long-term agreements with Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) for the supply of 12.93 mscmd of gas under the Administered Pricing Mechanism (APM) category for the above six gas-based stations. However, due to shortage of gas, the delivered quantities were less than the contracted quantities, sources added.

During April-February 2007-08, the average APM gas supply for these stations was around 9.06 mscmd only leading to a shortfall in optimum gas-based generation. Sources said, in the Anta (Rajasthan) power station, total generation was 2,496 million units and the loss due to gas shortage was 568 million units. At Auraiya (Uttar Pradesh) power station, the total generation was 3,691 million units and the loss was 1,067 million units; Dadri total generation was 4,795 million units and the loss was 1,078 million units.

The total generation stood at 20,223 million units and the loss due to shortage of gas was 6,001 million units. However, NTPC was able to partially mitigate the gas shortage by making arrangements for costlier spot regasified liquefied natural gas (RLNG) from major suppliers. During April-February 2007-08, the average spot RLNG supplies stood at 2.71 mscmd.

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