Developers of power projects today raised concerns over the power ministry’s proposal to allow only 800 MW supercritical boilers/turbines for the five ultra mega power projects.At the first pre-bid conference on the ultra mega power projects between the developers and the ministry, domestic equipment suppliers asked the ministry to relax the equipment unit size requirements. They said that very few equipment suppliers could meet the criteria set out for the projects.Power secretary R.V. Shahi, however, pointed out that the government’s move to recommend 800 MW unit size was to ensure efficiency in generation and the government wanted to get the maximum possible efficiency from the equipment.While Shahi did acknowledge that they could consider a unit size of 660 MW, which is still supercritical, he pointed out that these might not deliver the efficiency criteria being contemplated for the ultra mega power projects.Interestingly, at the last Energy Coordination Committee meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh it was pointed out that given the limited supply of such technology, developers should be given the freedom to select the unit size.While there was no discussion between the developers and the ministry on the payment security mechanism, they did arrive at a consensus for the eligibility criteria for the projects.
