Essar Power has delivered a strong operational performance in 2016-17, with its power generation moving up 49 per cent. Apart from generating more power, the company added 165 megawatt (Mw) capacity to its portfolio by commissioning one unit each at its Paradip and Hazira plants. The generation increased 57 per cent year-on-year in the quarter ended March 31, 2017.
With the commissioning of the second 135 Mw unit of the 2x135 Mw Hazira power plant in Gujarat, the project is now fully commissioned and operating at full load.
The second 30 Mw unit at the 4x30 MW Paradip power plant in Odisha was also commissioned in the last financial year. With this, half the targeted capacity of 120 Mw for the Paradip power plant has been commissioned.
In the 2016-17 financial year, Essar Power’s Mahan plant resumed operations after a gap of 19 months. Operations restarted at the beginning of the financial year and have continued without interruption banking on e-auction coal provided by Coal India Limited (CIL). Essar Power Madhya Pradesh, the company that operates the Mahan plant, procured over three million tonne of coal through the e-auction route in 2016-17.
KVB Reddy, chief executive officer, Essar Power, said, “Almost 80 per cent of our planned capacity of 6,100 Mw is now operational with eight out of nine plants up and running. The initiatives of the ministries of power and coal in the last financial year provided a fillip to the sector, helping us restart operations at the Mahan plant."
"Domestic coal auctions have helped mitigate the issue of coal availability. Though the sector is firmly on the path of revival, the government of India must consider reducing interest rates that currently make most power projects financially unviable. Measures like the Reserve Bank of India’s 5/25 scheme will help optimise power generation costs,” Reddy added.
Essar Power’s operational capacity in India now stands at 4,755 Mw. The company is currently developing the 1,200 Mw Tori plant in Jharkhand and the remaining 2x30 Mw units in Paradip. Essar Power’s total power generation capacity when these two plants come on stream will be 6,100 Mw, including the 85 Mw plant that is operational in Algoma, Canada.