OREANDA-NEWS. November 05, 2015. Essar Power Gujarat Ltd. (EPGL), which owns and operates the 1,200 MW imported coal fired thermal power plant in DevbhumiDwarka district of Gujarat, has reported significant improvement in operating and financial performance for the quarter ending 30th September, 2015 (Q2FY16).
  • The China-built Boiler,Turbine and Generator, coupled with safe and efficient operations and maintenance practices, ensured consistent delivery of power to grid as per requirement.
  • Customer requirement consistently met for the third consecutive year.
  • Lower raw material costs (coal prices down by about 20% YoY), improved realization (up 13% YoY to Rs. 3.68/ unit), and efficient operations (plant availability up 3 percentage points to 86%)  has resulted in 121% jump in EBIDTA (Operating profit) to Rs 137 crore in Q2FY16, against Rs 62 crore in Q2FY15.
  • All approvals received for ongoing debottlenecking projects; to improve EBIDTA by Rs. 150 Crores annually from next financial year.
  • During the period, lenders have sanctioned and implemented the 5/25 Scheme for the existing debt of Rs3,300 Crores, which has aligned debt repayment tenure with the life of the asset.
  • The Salaya Plant, whose capacity equals about 10% of Gujarat state’s power demand, is amongst the best operated power plants in the country. It has won recognition and awards in energy efficiency, environment and safety management practices. During the year, EPGL has received the CII Award for Energy Efficiency, the Gold category Award for Safety from Greentech Foundation and the Peabody Award for lowest emission of SO2 and NOX.

Management View Bullish
Talking on the results, Mr. Ramesh Kumar, MD, EPGL, said, “We had robust performance due to fall in raw material cost and improved operational efficiencies leading to improvement in financial parameters. The completion of the ongoing debottlenecking projects in the current financial year is expected toadd about Rs.150 Crores annually to the EBIDTAfrom next financial year.”

About Essar Power
Essar Power is one of India's leading private sector power producers with over 20-year operating track record. Essar Power owns power plants in India and Canada with a total generation capacity of 6,100 MW. Of this 4,675 MW is commissioned and with 225MW in advanced stage of commissioning. Essar has set up these projects at very competitive capex per megawatt. Essar Power recently won the Tokisud (N) coal block and the company is in process of securing additional raw material sources to meet its requirement in full.