Inside the bridge of the MV Hero, a 300-metre cargo ship berthed at the coal handling port in Mundra, Gujarat, the captain is relaxed even though he has just completed a long voyage from Indonesia. Lighting up a cigarette and sipping his coffee, he talks about braving rough weather in the Indian Ocean, waiting for two days to berth at Singapore port, and again on the outskirts of Mundra port.
“But this is a fantastic facility,” says the Ukranian, who has called on many a port across the world. As he talks, three giant mechanised cranes are at work. Each shovel attached to a crane scoops up about a tonne of coal from the ship’s hull and deposits it on a conveyor belt that’s 13 km long and delivers the cargo directly to the furnaces of Tata Power’s subsidiary, Coastal Gujarat Power (CGPL), India’s first ultra mega power plant (UMPP).
Coal from another ship berthed nearby is being unloaded in a similar fashion onto a conveyor belt that runs up to Adani Power’s plant, located next to CGPL. A third conveyor is feeding coal to trucks and rail wagons; it takes 1-2 minutes to load a truck.
Today, the tale of the upcoming city of Mundra is also the tale of these two power plants. Thanks to Tata Power’s 4,000 MW UMPP and Adani Power’s 4,620 MW plant, Mundra has come to earn the distinction of being home to the largest coal-fired power plants at a single location. The two plants account for 13 per cent of India’s coal-based installed thermal power capacity of 120,100 MW. Also, Mundra is cited as a shining example of cooperation between corporate houses to develop infrastructure.
But, with policy issues and the higher cost of imported coal rendering the future of the two power plants uncertain, Mundra’s future has come under a cloud.
No comments:
Post a Comment