Petronet LNG Limited (PLL), the company operating the LNG import terminal in Kochi, has proposed reviving the BSES Kerala power plant in Kochi and the National Thermal Power Corporation’s Rajiv Gandhi combined cycle power plant at Kayamkulam using natural gas as feedstock.
Petronet chairman and managing director Prabhat Singh said here on Saturday that the PLL had made a proposal and the talks were in the initial stage.
Cheaper power
He said power produced using natural gas should be cheaper than power from naphtha (used by NTPC) and diesel (used at the Kochi power plant). Power from natural gas would cost approximately ₹5 to 6 a unit. Mr. Singh was speaking at an interactive session with journalists organised by the Ernakulam Press Club.
The power plant at Paathalam, near Kochi, is owned by Reliance and the 165-MW plant was shut down in 2016. It was commissioned in 2000. The 360-MW NTPC facility at Kayamkulam was commissioned in 1998. The State government had proposed taking over the NTPC plant in 2017 but nothing has come of the proposal so far.
Mr. Singh said with the completion of the gas pipeline from Kochi to Mangaluru, the LNG terminal in Kochi should be able to utilise about 40% of its capacity. At present, the terminal was working on operating profit at about 10% capacity. Completion of the work was expected sometime in May-June. He praised the government’s commitment to completing the pipeline project at the earliest.
Major achievement
“When the pipeline project is completed up to Mangaluru it will be a major achievement. With the pipeline reaching Bengaluru, Kochi will be connected to the national gas grid.”
The PLL had proposed ideas like going in gas from the well head, which would make the fuel much cheaper than it was now.
In the meanwhile, the LNG terminal at Dahej in Gujarat, proposed simultaneously with that in Kochi, runs at 110% capacity. It is a world record for a gas terminal.
A total of 1,000 LNG vessels had arrived at the Dahej terminal over the last nine years.
50 vessels
Kochi had seen 50 vessels arriving at the terminal since early 2014, he said.
