Bawana power station struggles for more gas
Even frequent intervention by the PMO hasn’t prevented Pragati Power from continuing to face acute gas supply shortages at its Bawana power station in northwest Delhi.
“We hoped to be generating 750-MW of electricity by now,” rues a Pragati source. “But we can generate only 225-MW due to gas shortage.
” Pragati, he adds, is not even receiving the full 1.564m cm/d it was allocated by the oil ministry last September from ONGC’s marginal fields. “We are barely receiving 1.2m cm/d,” we learn.
“We need at least 2.4m cm/d.” Pragati complains even its current meagre supplies are erratic and can sometimes drop as low as 600,000 cm/d.
Pragati pays $5.20/mmbtu for these supplies under a ten-year GSPA signed with GAIL on October 21, 2011. “If we were receiving our full contracted quantity (1.564m cm/d) from GAIL we could be generating at least 285-MW of electricity right now,” we learn.
“We cannot use R-LNG as the cost of any electricity produced will be too high for end-consumers.” So what’s the way out “We are waiting for the domestic gas supply situation to improve,” we learn.
Pragati is hoping against hope that the next meeting of the specially constituted Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM), scheduled for tomorrow (February 24), might bring good news. “We are asking for gas at the highest levels of government,” we hear.
“We expect to get an additional gas allocation as soon as new supplies come in.” On October 27, 2009, the oil ministry allocated 930,000 cm/d of D6 gas to Bawana, meant to be commissioned in time to power the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi.
“We have no clue what happened to the allocation,” adds Pragati. “We have yet to receive any D6 gas.
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