The Maharashtra government has fixed March 2009 as the new deadline for making the 2,140-Mw Dabhol plant of Ratnagiri Gas and Power Pvt Ltd fully operational.

This was decided at a meeting between State Energy Minister Dilip Walse-Patil and executives of General Electric, which had supplied power equipment to the erstwhile Dabhol Power Company.

During the meeting, GE executives assured the minister that by the end of this month, the Block-I, currently lying defunct, would start generating around 600 Mw.

Currently, block II and block III are together generating around 650 Mw, over half less than their combined capacity of 1,400 Mw.

The state's current power shortage is around 4,500 Mw and is expected to shoot up to 5,500-6,000 Mw in the coming rabi season.

"Turbines of block-I are ready but there are still some problems with the boilers of the plant. We expect to rectify them within the next fortnight," a senior official from the state power ministry told Business Standard.

Ever since DPC was taken over by RGPPL -- promoted by NTPC and GAIL -- it has run into several problems. Initially, the plant could not be started because of non-availability of gas. It was made operational using naphtha to provide some relief to the power-starved state.

With 2.75 million metric British thermal unit of gas, the plant generates around 650 Mw. "However, the central government has assured us another 2.75 MMBTU by the end of this month, which will help the state get around 1,250-1,300 Mw," the official added.

"If everything goes according to schedule, we expect to generate another 300 Mw by the end of this year and another 300 Mw by March 2009," he claimed.