India to Revive Nine Gas Fired Power Plants

Indian government has announced plans to revive nine stranded gas fired power plants (SGP) with a total installed capacity of 5,942 megawatt (MW), reported Asia News International (ANI), a news agency.

The announcement came at the conclusion of reverse e-auction process in New Delhi on Sunday morning.

Sunday`s reverse e-auction for stranded gas-based plants is the third phase of auctions conducted, ANI said. Auctions for the first and second phases were held last year in May and September, respectively. A total of 10 mscmd of RLNG will be imported to run SGPs and domestic gas plants (DGPs) between April 1 to September 30.

According to the bid document, while 8.9 mscmd of gas will be imported for SGPs, 1.1 mscmd will be allocated to DGPs. The government, in March last, allowed gas imports by way of e-auctions for 31 gas-based power units, with a capacity of 14,000 MW, lying idle for lack of feed stock.

The 31 power stations with a combined capacity of 14,305 MW became eligible to apply for Power System Development Fund (PSDF) to generate 30 percent of their installed capacity using imported LNG. In the first phase of auctions, 10 of the plants bid through reverse e-auction for generating over 5 billion units of electricity; while in the second phase, 13 plants with an installed capacity of 8,262.08 MW emerged successful bidders.