More than three months after the tariff
policy amendments were unveiled by the government, the power sector is waking
up to an obscure provision that has the potential to attract over
Rs.30,000-crore investment into sewage water treatment plants around thermal
generating stations.
The policy has made it mandatory for thermal
plants within 50 km of sewage treatment facilities to use treated sewage water.
The policy would ensure availability of more potable water in the areas
adjacent to the power plant, the government had said.
“We have started implementing the policy for
thermal plants with NTPC’s Nagpur unit being the first to source treated sewage
water from the city’s municipal body. Additionally, we have always made
extensive plans for groundwater conservation in coal and mineral mining,” power
minister Piyush Goyal told reporters.
He added that the government was also looking at
making thermal plants along the Ganges use treated water so that the effluent
isn’t discharged into the river.
As per industry estimates, nearly 80 gigawatt
(GW) of thermal capacity would be covered by the provision. If all these plants
source their entire water requirement from sewage treatment plants (STP), it
would amount to nearly 8,000 million litres per day (MLD). Typically, a thermal
power station requires about 3-5 litres of water to produce one unit of power.
It is estimated that the extra cost for a power
plant in procuring this water, including the associated pipeline of average
50-km length, would result in a tariff hike of about 5-7 paise/unit.
“This clause would apply mostly to the Centre and
state-owned plants that are located around the periphery of cities and towns,”
a top NTPC official told FE. He added that the company had already signed an
informal agreement for use of sewage treated water at its plants in Mouda and
Solapur in Maharashtra.
The company has been prompt in signing pacts for
Maharashtra plants as several state-owned thermal stations have been forced to
suspend operations temporarily due to scarcity of water this year.
This practice is likely to take off with NTPC’s
involvement in it. The state-run thermal power giant has entered into an
agreement with Vishvaraj Infrastructure, a company that has been selected to
run Nagpur’s 200-MLD STP in a first public-private partnership project in water
treatment.
“We will be supplying 150 MLD to NTPC Mouda plant
while we are looking for buyers for remaining 50 MLD supplies,” Arun
Lakhani, chairman and
managing director of Vishvaraj
Infrastructure, told FE. He added that the difficulty in
making return on investment on sewage plants had been holding the interested
investors at bay.
Most urban centres’ STPs are run by local bodies
with grossly inadequate capacity to handle sewage generated by a particular
centre. For example, Nagpur alone produces over 500 MLD of sewage water, but
the treatment capacity is for only 100 MLD.
“The industry and government are both waking up
to the water crisis. We already have the policy from the power ministry
that will create incentives for private players to install STPs as buyers would
now be available,” Arun
Lakhani said.
