Punjab govt buys GVK-owned thermal power plant for Rs 1,080 crore

CHANDIGARH: Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Monday said that the state has "created history" by purchasing Goindwal thermal power plant owned by GVK Power at a cost of Rs 1,080 crore.

The purchase would help reduce the overall tariff by over Rs 1 per unit, leading to savings of Rs 300-350 crore on power purchase, he said.

The Chief Minister further said that for the "first time this reverse trend has started" that the government has purchased any private power plant whereas in the past the "governments used to sell their assets to the favorite individuals at ‘throw away’ prices".

He said that the power plant is the cheapest purchase made by any state or a private company as other power plants like Korba West, Jhabua Power and Lanco Amarkantak of capacity 600 MW have been purchased at Rs 1,804 crore, Rs 1,910 crore and Rs 1,818 crore, respectively.

Mann said the 540 MW Goindwal power plant has been purchased at Rs 2 crore per MW. Mann said this is "much less than other power plants whose acquisition has been made at Rs 3 crore per MW".

He also said that it will be named as Sri Guru Amardass Thermal Power plant after the third Sikh Guru.

'The available capacity of power plant was 61 per cent, whereas it was used only up to 34 per cent but now it will be run to 75-80 per cent, thereby augmenting the power generation in the state," he added. "With this 33 per cent (one out of three with private thermals) power purchase agreements (PPAs) have been terminated."

Mann quipped that on January 1, 2018, units of the Bathinda and Ropar thermal power plants were closed permanently but today on January 1 the "pro-people" government has purchased a private power plant to augment power supply of the state.

He said that as coal from the Pachwara coal mine can be used only for government power plants so with purchase of this power plant this coal can be aptly utilized for producing power to provide it to every sector of the state.

"This purchase would help reduction in overall tariff by over Rs 1 per unit, adding it would lead to savings of Rs 300-350 crore on power purchase thereby benefiting the consumers of the state," the Chief Minister added.

It would also help in higher power generation due to availability of coal from the Pachhwara coal mine as plant load factor is likely to go up to 75 to 80 per cent against average plant load factor 34 per cent so far, he said.