vAlmost A year after closure of Guru Nanak Dev Thermal Plant (GNDTP), Bathinda, Punjab government has decided to run a 100 MW solar power project on 250 acres of land of thermal plant which was used to dump flyash within this complex.

Facts :

• This solar power plant will be operated on build-own-operate-transfer (BOOT) system in which a private company will be hired to set up this power plant and land of power plant will be given at Rs 1 per acre lease for 25 years to the company.
• Punjab Energy Development Authority (PEDA) is the nodal agency for the same and has been authorised to take part in the bidding process for allotting the land to private company.
• Once the project is finalised, the company will be selling power to Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) after generating it.
• Decision regarding this solar power plant was taken in a board of directors meeting held in August this year.
• On January 1, 2018, four units of thermal plant were closed, though project to run one of its unit on paddy stubble has been approved.
• This was the decision of the previous government that they wanted to privatise solar power project as they had given thermal plants in private hands in Talwandi Sabo and Rajpura.
• However, oppostion had then objected to this move, but now they have approved the same in their tenure.
• Also, the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) is going to set up a 60-65 MW paddy straw-based power plant at the cost of Rs 150 crore.
• PSPCL’s board of directors (BoD) in a meeting cleared the proposal for the project at the Guru Nanak Dev Thermal Power (GNDTP) plant in Bathinda.
• It will be one of the largest straw-based plants and around 4 lakh tonne paddy straw would be used annually to generate electricity here. Till now straw-based power plants of up to 45 MW capacity are operational.

Analysis :

• Punjab has more than 1,500 mega watt (MW) potential for installation of solar power projects on its main canals.
• However, till date only 20 MW capacity pilot-cum-demonstration project for development of grid-connected solar photovoltaic power plants on canal tops has been allotted to Punjab and that the Punjab Energy Development Agency (PEDA) has commissioned the entire 20 MW capacity projects.
• Out of these, two projects of 7.50 MW each had been commissioned on the Ghaggar branch canal and the Ghaggar link canal in March 2018 and two of 2.50 MW each were commissioned on Sidhwan branch canal and Ghaggar branch canal respectively, in March last year.
• The canal-top solar photovoltaic projects have been designed in such a fashion that the canal banks are not touched for the safety of the canal and inhabitants in the vicinity of the canals.
• This saves about 100 acre land and reduces CO2 emission of 7,500 tonne per annum which would otherwise have occurred to generate energy to an equivalent amount by non-renewable resources.
• Both the projects have been cleared coinciding with the celebrations of the 550th birth anniversary of Sikhism founder Guru Nanak Dev in whose name the thermal power plant was set up in 1974.
• Foundation stone of the thermal power plant was laid in 1969, coinciding with 500th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak.
• The plant was shut down on December 31, 2017. After 11 months, PSPCL has decided to set up new projects here.
• The proposal for straw-based power plant had been cleared after the feasibility study by Denmark-based biomass company Babcock and Wilcox (B&W) Volund in recently.

GNDTP Bathinda Power Station :

• Guru Nanak Dev Thermal Plant (GNDTP) is a 460-megwatt (MW) coal-fired power station in Punjab, India.
• Construction on GNDTP Bathinda power station's four 110 MW units began in 1969. The first unit was commissioned in September 1974 and the others were subsequently commissioned in September 1975, March 1978, and January 1979.
• The plant was originally planned to be operational for 25 years. "Restoration and modernization" were completed on units 1 and 2 between 2004 and 2007. Units 3 and 4 were scheduled for restoration on November 14, 2006, but due to "non-availability of certain critical components", the renovation of unit 3 was rescheduled to be finished by October 15, 2010 and unit 4 for September 15, 2011, but were not completed until 2012 to 2014.
• The goal of restoration and modernization, according to the Punjab State Power Corporation (formerly known as PSEB), is "to restore or increase capacity of units" (units 1 & 2 to remain 110 MW, 3 & 4 to increase to 120 MW each), to "allow the plants to run safely and efficiently for another 20 years", and to "adhere to environmental standards of the Pollution Control Board."
   

Shut Down of GNDTP :

• After completing a renovation in 2014 to extend its lifetime, the coal plant was retired in September 2017, as the plant was not able to meet the minimum environmental and emission norms.
• Plant owner PSPCL said India's Central Electricity Authority (CEA) had laid out certain guidelines to phase out all fuel-based thermal plants which were older than 25 years, so, according to that guidelines GNDTP has been shut down.
• On December 20, 2017, the Punjab cabinet approved the closure of inefficient power units at GNDTP Bathinda and Ropar thermal plant. Under the decision, all units of GNDTP Bathinda had closed from January 1, 2018.