Diverted D6 gas
If you can’t get more, make do with what you’ve got.
So believes Bangalore-based GMR Group, which owns and operates the Vemagiri power station near Rajahmundhry city in Andhra Pradesh. Since 2010, GMR has unsuccessfully lobbied for a 3.07m cm/d D6 gas allocation for its proposed 768-MW gas-fired expansion to Vemagiri.
But with no additional D6 gas allocations on the horizon, GMR wrote to the power ministry in early July saying it plans to ‘divert’ the 1.38m cm/d of D6 gas it is currently receiving at Vemagiri to carry out ‘commissioning trials’ on the proposed 768-MW expansion. Vemagiri has been using this 1.38m cm/d to generate 338.5-MW of electricity since April 2009, which it supplies to the Andhra Pradesh power grid.
“GMR’s letter to the power ministry was accompanied by a no objection letter from the state government,” we learn. Last week, the power ministry approved GMR’s proposal to divert D6 gas for up to six months.
