Telangana: Plan for setting up two new power plants run out gas

Hyderabad: The proposed gas-based power plants at Shankarpally in Ranga Reddy district and at Nedunur in Karimnagar district have almost gone into cold storage.

The state government has written to the Centre several times requesting gas allocation to these power plants. The Centre has always replied that there was no gas to allot.

An energy department official said that without gas linkage, there was no possibility of these two power plants coming up.

At the same time the state government is also of the opinion that the gas-based power plants are not viable with the abundant availability of power from non-conventional energy sources and the perennial shortage of gas.

Genco had proposed to set up the gas-based 1,000 MW plant at Shankarpally and a 2,100 MW plant at Nedunur.

After bifurcation, the state government and the Centre accorded all approvals for the plants. The Union petroleum ministry in principle agreed to supply gas to these plants since they were government-owned.

The proposed Shankarpally requires 5 million metric standard cubic metres of gas per day. The state government estimated the project cost at Rs 4,000 crore, and wanted to take up in four phases of 250 MW capacity each. This plant was to meet the increased power demand in Hyderabad, the Metro Rail and proposed industries around the city.

A few months ago, seven-member delegation of senior IAS officials met NITI Aayog officials and discussed about gas allocation for the two plants. The Centre was not moved.

Union energy minister Piyush Goyal has stated in the Lok Sabha that natural gas was not available to supply to existing plants; it was not possible to supply it to new plants.