Managing Director ONGC Tripura Power Company Limited (OTPC) Sanil C. Namboodiripad on Thursday said that the state’s profit making power company had achieved its highest Plant Load Factor (PLF) of 80 percent which according to him was remarkable success in generation of gas based power.
“The Company has achieved the mark of 80 percent average production of the total strength amounting 582-megawatt of power in just concluded financial year. Which is the best performance of a power plant so far”, said the MD.
The Chief of the company that sources 30 percent of the total power consumed by the North East Indian states said, “we in the OTPC have successfully run the plant even during the Covid 19 period without much impact in our business. Since OTPC is the only power plant that supplies power at a very cheap rate Rs 3.25 to Rs 3.50 per megawatt the buyers generally chose the cheapest one available in the market. The company has so far supplied power to almost all the North Eastern states and it is ready to participate in state electricity biddings that are expected to open shortly”.
Explaining the matter in brief, he said, in Palatana there are two power projects that have the capacity to generate power upto 726-mega watt. In the previous years, it could reach the level of 80 percent of the total capacity of power production. However, the Managing director also said that they would persistently work to improve it further.
Speaking on the company’s future expansion plans, he said, “already, environmental clearance for one power project has been approved. There are plans to install two new plants but then it will be decided after considering a number of things that include availability of gas, price of the end product and most importantly market linkages”. According to him, within the present financial year, some decisions will be taken and it may get delayed by two or three more years for other processing..
“For the expansion, it depends on many factors. It has to be first studied if a new well is drilled for gas, what would be the estimated price of the per unit of the power. Unlike the previously drilled wells, this time the prices can not be fixed at the point like earlier. So, the ONGC is carrying out a study and only if it is viable, the company will go for expansion”, he added. According to him, for smooth functioning of one plant, 3 MMSCMD gas is required and for one the requirement stands half of it.
On the Covid 19 posed hurdles, he said, since the OTPC generated power is cheaper in comparison to other plants; the Covid can not pose major problems in the way of OTPC’s business. The company has recorded a profit of above Rs 150 crore. He had also attributed the cost-plus method of marketing that saved the company. He, however, admitted that in the first half of the 2020, consumption of power less with workplaces shut and less commercial use but it picked up from the month of October and November.
Namboodiripad also informed the press about various CSR activities being carried out by the company for the well-being of the local people. OTPC on Thursday handed over an ambulance, an oxygen carrying vehicle and some valuable equipment to the GBP hospital authorities.