Dabhol power plant likely to restart generation from October

15 September 2006

Mumbai: Ratnagiri Gas and Power Pvt Ltd, the revived Dabhol Power Project, is planning to restart generation in October. The unit will run on imported naphtha and the tariff is likely to be a little over Rs 6 per unit, power secretary R V Shahi said at a seminar in New Delhi.

The cost of power from the Dhabol plant was earlier pegged at Rs 4.25 a unit.

"The Dabhol plant will be restarted from next month. Maharashtra has said that they will require electricity from the plant," power minister Sushilkumar Shinde told reporters on the sidelines of the seminar.

In fact, the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company limited (MSEDCL) has started resorting to load shedding to cover the electricity demand across Navi Mumbai.

Shinde said natural gas supplies were expected to be firmed up only in March next year and the 740 MW Phase-II of the plant would be operated on naphtha till then.