By IANS
Mumbai : The Maharashtra government Saturday added 660 MW power generation capacity with the commissioning of the second phase of the Ratnagiri Gas and Power Project (RGPP).
The first RGPP unit, located around 335 km south of Mumbai, started functioning early this year and generates 600 MW power.
“The third unit is expected to become operational by February 2008, taking the total capacity of this plant to 2,184 MW,” a senor state government official told IANS.
RGPP, originally undertaken as a $2.80 billion project by the US-based power giant Enron Corporation in 1992, was stuck for more than a decade in political and legal hassles, leading to termination of the agreement. Enron went bankrupt in 2001 and the power plant remained idle for years.
In July 2005, state-run Gas Authority of India Limited and National Thermal Power Corporation, a consortium of banks and the Maharashtra State Electricity Board jointly took the project over to revive it as Ratnagiri Gas and Power Private Ltd. It became operational in May 2006 and started generating power a year later.
Presently, the state is experiencing a shortfall of over 3,500 MW which is expected to go up to 5,000 MW in next three years due to the increased demand.
With a view to tackling the power crisis, Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh last week constituted a high-powered cabinet sub-committee headed by him to resolve pending matters pertaining to the public and private sector power plants.
Commenting on Saturday’s development, Deshmukh said in a statement: “I am committed to make our state power surplus once again. With our concerted efforts, within next four years, it will be possible for us to add 10,000 MW units to the existing power generation capacity.”