Sugar sector enters Cogeneration power 

The sugar cooperative sector in the state is moving into the cogeneration power field, to supplement the Maharashtra State Electricity Board's (MSEB) power generation in the state. On November 16, 2000, in Mumbai, Ajnkyatara Cooperative Sugar Mill, Satara was the first sugar mill in Maharashtra to sign a project development agreement with Globe Cogeneration Power Limited, Mumbai, for generating 30 Mega Watts of power. The project is expected to become fully operational in 2002.

Founder chairman of Ajnakyatara Mill and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MLA, Abhaysinh Raje Bhosale told mumbaibest.com that this project will utilise indigenious technology and, for the first time, will have a 105 bar boiler technology which has passed the test in the USA. "It will supplement the power production of MSEB which is grappling with the problem of a power supply crunch. The project will supply to MSEB, 15 MW of power during the sugarcane harvest season and 26 MW of power during the off season. The plant will export surplus power at Rs 132 per kilo volt to the MSEB grid. The estimated project outlay is around Rs 105 crore. The plant will use renewable energy sources like cane trash, bagasse and other biomass products. The plant load factor is estimated to be around 80 percent, '' disclosed Bhosale.

The power plant will use high pressure and high temperature bioler technology. The end result is that MSEB will save, approximately, 75 million units of power which it would otherwise have had to purchase from neighbouring state electricity boards and electricity generating companies. Currently, the power shortfall is around 1500 MW in Maharashtra.

``The project is being built on the Build, Operate, Own and Transfer principle and will subsequently be handed over to the mill after expiry of the agreement, at a nominal cost of Rs 1. The annual cost of the project at the time of Globe Cogeneration Power Limited handing over the project to Ajnkyatara Mill, is estimated to be around Rs 100 crore,'' said Bhosale.

Sugar mills in Maharashtra have started adopting professional management techniques to facilitate the survival of the cooperative sugar mills. Bhosale claimed if every cooperative sugar mill adopts the cogeneration model, then it will generate 1000 MW to 1200 MW of power in addition to MSEB's power generation capacity.

By : Mani D'Mello