Power-starved Maharashtra plans new plant at Dhule
Mumbai:July 2 2009

The Maharashtra State Power Generation Company Limited (MahaGenco) has cleared the plans for setting up a greenfield power project at Dondaicha in Dhule district.

Senior officials from the state-owned power generation utility said they were planning to set up two super-critical units of 660 mw each at a site in north Maharashtra, but added that there were plans to add a 660-mw unit in case they got adequate land and water linkages.
MahaGenco) has cleared the plans for setting up a greenfield power project at Dondaicha in Dhule district.

Senior officials from the state-owned power generation utility said they were planning to set up two super-critical units of 660 mw each at a site in north Maharashtra, but added that there were plans to add a 660-mw unit in case they got adequate land and water linkages.

This will be the first greenfield power project to be developed by MahaGenco in recent years. Among others, the 1,600-mw imported-coal-based Dhopawe power project in Ratnagiri, which is likely to have two super-critical units of 800 mw each, is also being developed on a greenfield basis. Work on this coastal power plant will be undertaken through the tariff-based competitive bidding route for the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MahaVitaran) with MahaGenco acting as the nodal agency.

Under the tariff-based competitive bidding route, which is followed for ultra mega power projects (UMPP) being set up in the country, the lowest tariff bid is selected for developing the project.

The Dondaicha project is likely to incur a cost of around Rs 6 crore per mw, and work is likely to start in the coming months after the necessary sanctions come through.

MahaGenco, which is grappling with delivery overruns by the public sector Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL), also plans to pump in around 6,380 mw of capacity into the state grid through its other expansion and replacement projects, which also includes the expansion of the Uran Gas Turbine Power Station (GTPS) located in Raigad district.