US giant General Electric offers to set up gas power plant in Punjab, proposes power at Rs 4.81 per unit

NewsBharati    13-Oct-2017
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Chandigarh, October 13: General Electric (GE), the US-based multinational company is intended to set up a 2,400-megawatt gas-based power plant in Punjab. Notably, General Electric on Thursday offered to set up a 2,400-megawatt gas-based power plant in Punjab, offering electricity at Rs 4.81 per unit only.

 

According to the official release, the offer was made by the corporate giant to Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh in Chandigarh on Thursday evening. To grab this offer, CM Amarinder immediately asked the company’s CEO Deepesh Nanda to submit a comprehensive proposal within a fortnight and set up a five-member committee to examine the same.

The release said, “The committee would comprise CEO Invest Punjab, Director Technical PSPCL, Director Finance PSPCL, a nominee of Principal Secretary Finance, along with Additional CEO Invest Punjab Rajat Aggarwal as its convener. The committee has been mandated to recommend to the government the model (IPP or EPC) for setting up of the plant. It will also look into the issue of the selection of the site for the plant, for which the Chief Minister has suggested a location near Ropar, in place of the existing 35-year old thermal plant which had outlived its utility.”

The company has offered to set up the plant anywhere in the state to ensure uninterrupted and cheap power to the industry, but preferably in a region with an existing pipeline network. The US giant also expressed the desire to associate with the state government for setting up gas power plants at the load centers at Ludhiana and Amritsar, either on Independent Power Producer (IPP) or Engineering Procurement Construction (EPC) model.

The chief minister also felt the proposed gas plant would give a fillip to the state government's plan to develop Kandi region as an industrial zone, along with the foothills of Shivalik.

The high-powered GE delegation, led by Nanda, earlier made a detailed presentation to the chief minister on its proposal. Pointing out that gas power plants had emerged as an effective, green alternative to the conventional coal-based ones, Nanda said the former was also more economically viable as they required up to 35 acres less land. Further, gas-based power plants required just 20 months for completion as compared to at least 48 months in case of thermal plants, which also makes these projects cost-effective, he added.