Energy minister Chandrashekhar Bavankule had earlier said they were planning to scrap MahaGenco's proposed coal-based projects, which were unviable due to higher costs of transporting coal and, hence, would hike rates. Instead, this land at Dondaicha, Paras and Bhusawal would be used to establish solar energy projects.
Maharashtra will get another 3,230MW of power, with the state electricity generation utility commissioning five generating units by the end of this financial year.
A senior official from the Maharashtra State Power Generation Company Limited (MahaGenco) said these sets in three projects would be on line by March 2016 — three 660MW super critical units at Koradi, two 500MW units at Chandrapur and one 250MW at Parli. The sets at Koradi will be MahaGenco's first supercritical units, which operate at higher generating efficiencies.
Thermal power makes up for a large part of MahaGenco's installed capacity of 11,237MW. This comprises 7,980MW coal-based thermal power, 672MW on gas and 2,585MW hydroelectric projects. It has commissioned around 180MW solar power projects and plans to take it to around 450MW, which is one of the highest by state utilities, by the end of the 2015-16 fiscal.
The official added that the Koradi and Chandrapur units had been synchronised with the grid in March, and the Parli unit would be lit up this month. However, slippages in the project's implementation have ensured that the original deadlines of October 2012 (Chandrapur), December 2014 (Koradi) and Parli (September 2013) have been widely overshot.
Energy minister Chandrashekhar Bavankule had earlier said they were planning to scrap MahaGenco's proposed coal-based projects, which were unviable due to higher costs of transporting coal and, hence, would hike rates. Instead, this land at Dondaicha, Paras and Bhusawal would be used to establish solar energy projects.
Bavankule said the state would need to generate around 4,000MW through coal-based plants by 2025 and was planning a 4,000MW-odd pithead-based power plant near a coal mine allocated to it at Raigarh in Chhattisgarh. Another 660MW supercritical power project is planned at Nashik and, in a first-of-its-kind initiative, this may be done with participation from private players, who will hold a controlling stake.
This will help the MahaGenco benefit from the experience and efficiencies of private players, whose cost of power is cheaper than that of state utilities.
Maharashtra's proposed renewable energy policy has set a target for 14,400MW grid-connected projects, with the bulk 7,500MW expected to come in from the solar sector, and wind energy and baggase-based cogeneration, contributing 5,000MW and 1,000MW, respectively. Small hydro power projects, with capacity of 5MW and less, will make up for 400MW, and 300MW is proposed to be generated from industrial waste and 200MW from biomass.
This will be a manifold increase from the 2,500MW renewable energy target in the previous policy, which was approved in 2008. Maharashtra has an existing 6,155MW capacity in the sector.
The Centre plans to develop 175 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy capacity by 2022, of which 100GW will be solar energy. One GW is equal to 1,000MW.
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