Tata Power threatens to shut 500MW Trombay plant unit

The firm says it will shut the plant if it is not able to convert the gas/oil fuelled unit to a coal-fired one 

First Published: Thu, Sep 26 2013. 11 08 PM IST 

The cost of power generation from diesel varies between Rs.12 and Rs.15 a unit while coal-fired power is available at Rs.3.50-5 a unit. Photo: Priyanka Parashar/Mint

Mumbai: Tata Power Co. Ltd will shut its 500 megawatt (MW) unit at its 1,580MW Trombay power plant if it is not able to convert the gas/oil fuelled unit to a coal-fired one. The ministry of environment and forest is currently reviewing the company’s application seeking clearance for change in fuel.

“We have decided that we will not run this unit on oil as it is a tremendous waste to operate a plant on imported oil and generate power at Rs.13-14 per unit,” Tata Power’s managing director Anil Sardana said in an interview on Tuesday.

He said the environmental impact assessment (EIA) report prepared by National Environmental Engineering Research Institute proves there will be a reduction in emissions after a switch of fuel and there will be virtually no ash as the plant will use coal with ash content of just 3%. The company moved the application for fuel change in December 2012 but has not heard yet from the ministry on this. Blaming “competitors” and political parties for the delay, Sardana said the company will be left with no choice but to shut the plant and “let there be load shedding in Mumbai”.

Tata Power’s Trombay power plant in Mumbai’s eastern suburb has an installed capacity of 1,580MW. The particular unit with a capacity of 500MW was built in the mid-1980s to run either on gas or oil. Since gas is not available, this unit is run on oil only when there is a sudden spurt in demand. This is a stand-by unit but the company wants to use it regularly for power generation.

The cost of fuel conversion in the plant is around Rs.1,174 crore.

The cost of power generation from diesel varies between Rs.12 and Rs.15 a unit while coal-fired power is available at Rs.3.50-5 a unit.

All political parties, led by the Shiv Sena, and environmental groups have been opposing this conversion as they fear it will further pollute the eastern suburbs of the city that already have two state-run oil refineries and one fertilizer plant.

NITESH KUMAR SINGH

PGDM 1SI