State seeks 30% more natural gas on priority

HYDERABAD: The state government has urged the Centre to allocate 3.2 MMSCMD of natural gas on top priority for power generation at the gas- based projects to meet the ever-growing power demand in the state.The request was made by Dinesh Kumar, principal secretary (energy)  while speaking at a conference of southern states on implementation of priority power projects and other power-related key issues held here on Sunday.Kumar urged the Union power ministry to expedite the matter with the empowered group of ministers (EGOM) and the ministry of petroleum and natural gas to help the state meet the shortage and facilitate power generation at all the gas-based projects to their full capacity.He said chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy was very keen that the gap between demand and  supply for power should be bridged to the maximum extent and the allocation of 3.2 MMSCMD of natural gas was very crucial to the state.  Kumar reiterated that there were 9 gas-based projects in AP with a total installed capacity of 2,770 MW for which 13 MMSCMD of natural gas is required. But the supply at present is only around 9.7 MMSCMD (million metric standard cubic metres per day), resulting in a shortfall of 3.2 MMSCMD which he wanted the centre to release on priority basis. He said the chief minister had already addressed a letter to the Centre in this connection. He requested the Centre for another allocation of 9.72 MMSCMD of natural gas for the 2,100 MW APGenco project at Karimnagar. Dinesh Kumar also reiterated the government's request for additional allocation of coal linkage for APGenco's thermal power plants at Sattupally (1x600 MW), Vadarevu (5X800 MW) and RTPP, Kadapa (1X600 MW). He also urged the Union power ministry to ensure full quantum of supply of annual coal linkage of 12.5 million tonnes from the Mahanadi Coal Fields to APGenco as against the present supply of 7.5 million tonnes.He requested the central ministry to restore 238 MW of power reduced last year from the share of the CGSs  and to allocate additional 500 MW from the unallocated power of CGS to meet the growing power demand during peak hours to the extent of 8-10 percent in the state.