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Punjab Government will make a bid to purchase a private power plant — Goindwal Sahib coal-based thermal power plant Goindwal Sahib in Tarn Taran district — for the first time in the state’s history.
“This is unprecedented as for the first time, the State Government will bid to buy a private plant. The state has enough supply of coal through which this plant can be run efficiently,” said Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann.
The final decision regarding the financial bid for taking over the 540 MW Goindwal Sahib power plant is expected to be taken during the next meeting of the Council of Ministers, scheduled for Saturday at Mansa. The last day for the submission of the bid is June 15 (Thursday).
Notably, the state’s power utility — Punjab State Power Corporation Limited — is one of the 12 bidders to take over the private thermal power plant after corporate insolvency proceedings have been initiated against its owner, GVK Power.
Only the previous week, the government set up a three-member Cabinet sub-committee — comprising Power Minister Harbhajan Singh, Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema, and Agriculture Minister Gurmeet Singh Khuddian — to decide on the financial bid from PSPCL’s side.
Spread over 1100 acres, the GVK power plant’s foundation stone was laid in October 2008 by the then Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal. Its first unit of 270 megawatt (MW) was made operational on April 1, 2016, during the SAD-BJP government; followed by a second unit of 270 MW on April 14, 2016.
The move has been supported by the PSEB Engineers’ Association, maintaining that with this, the state would be less dependent on independent power plants (IPPs) or private plants.
As of now, Punjab has two government-owned power plants — Guru Hargobind Thermal Plant (GHTP) at Lehra Mohabbat in Bathinda with a generation capacity of 920 MW; and Guru Gobind Singh Super Critical Thermal plant (GGSSTP) at Ropar with a generation capacity of 840 MW. Other two— Rajpura thermal power plant (RJTP) of 1400 MW capacity and Talwandi Sabo Power Limited (TSPL) of 1980 MW capacity — are private plants.
A senior government official maintained that after April 2016, there is no addition in power generation in the state. “In fact, the state’s power generation capacity has reduced by 880 MW in 2018 when the Congress government closed down government-owned Guru Nanak Dev Thermal Plant at Bathinda, besides laying off two units of Ropar plant with a generation capacity of 420 MW,” said the official, adding that if in case the PSPCL wins the bid of GVK plant, it will be of great benefit.