Gujarat State Electricity Corporation Limited (GSECL) is finding itself in a complex situation with the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas rejecting company’s request to utilise unused natural gas from Dhuvaran unit 1 and 2 of the power plant for the commissioning of the third unit. As a result GSECL is finding it difficult to commission its third unit at Dhuvaran. According to petroleum ministry Dhuvaran 3 does not qualify for diversion of gas. As per the guidelines on clubbing/diversion of gas between power plants, the clubbing/diversion is possible only among original gas allottees and Dhuvaran 3 has no allocation. Further, the petroleum ministry has noted that higher production of electricity after undertaking the proposed diversion has not been certified by the power ministry and on these grounds also the ministry has rejected GSECL’s request.
GSECL’s Dhuvaran Combined Cycle Power Plant, at present, has two units, both of which were taken under commercial operation since November 2007. While the unit one has total installed capacity of 106.617 MW, unit two has total capacity of 112.45 MW. Dhuvaran 3 proposes to add another 375 MW generation capacity. Originally, Dhuvaran thermal power station had 6 units of oil and gas based power plants with a total generation capacity 534 MW which were retired from service between 2007 and 2010 after their useful life.
