United Nations

The project activity is to set up a 500 MW natural gas based combined cycle power plant. The combined cycle power plant has been set up in two phases. Phase 1 is 155 MW. The power plant receives Natural Gas in pipelines from Essar Steel Limited (ESTL) and water is pumped from the Tapi river. BPL and ESTL have entered into a Power Purchase Agreement under which BPL would supply power to ESTL.

The project activity avoids requirement to purchase power from the Western grid of India that is predominantly supplied with coal/lignite based power plants and reduces requirement of power generation in the grid, thereby avoiding emission of Green House Gases.

Contribution of the project activity to sustainable development:
The Ministry of Environment and Forests, Govt. of India has specified social well being, economic well being, environmental well being and technological well being as the four indicators for sustainable development in the interim approval guidelines of host country approval eligibility criteria for Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects.

Contribution to Social Wellbeing:
● The operation of this plant creates new employment opportunities for the region.
● The project activity has indirectly helped in infrastructure development in neighboring villages (i.e. better roads, telecommunication etc).
● The project has increased income security of vulnerable sections of the rural communities near the project site through redistribution of benefits on account of the new direct and indirect employment opportunities associated with the project.

Contribution to Environmental Wellbeing:
● The project activity also helps in conservation of depleting fossil fuels such as coal, oil, natural gas which was predominantly used for power generation.
● The project does not use coal for electricity generation thus Green House Gases are not emitted through this activity.

Contribution to Economical Wellbeing:
● The project creates employment opportunities and this will eventually raise the economic standards of the people residing near the project activity.

Contribution to Technological Wellbeing:
● The project is a natural gas based combined cycle power plant and would result in improved power generation efficiency.

For more information on this project, please click here.

For more information on the social benefits of the project click here.