Damodar Valley Corporation is worried about the maintenance of its 1200-MW thermal power plant at Raghunathpur in Purulia district of Bengal, which uses equipment based on Chinese technology.

India had imported power equipment worth Rs 71,000 crore in 2018-19, of which tools of Rs 20,000 crore are from China, Union power minister R.K. Singh said recently. The power ministry wants to cut down on imports and subject imported equipment to testing given the strategic nature of the sector and its vulnerability to cyber attacks.

The two units of 600 MW of DVC was built using Chinese technology and availability of equipment and localisation of the plant could pose challenges, both technical and financial.

A document from the Central Electricity Authority shows that the Boiler Turbine Generator (BTG) order of the plant was placed with Shanghai Electric Corporation of China. Anil Ambani firm Reliance Infrastructure was the engineering procurement company for the project.

“Our plant at Raghunathpur is fitted with Chinese supplied equipment. The government has taken a decision and we have to abide by that. The plant is already running. Tomorrow we may need small equipment for which orders may have been placed many months back,” said DVC member secretary Prabir Kumar Mukhopadhyay at an event organised by the CII on Saturday.

While there is a need for localisation, specialised power equipment may not be readily available. Bengal power minister Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay, who was also present at the event, said the state electricity transmission company could invest Rs 20,000 crore over the next five years to strengthen the renewable energy sector and improve power infrastructure through various projects in the state.

REC borrowing limit

State-run REC on Saturday said it shareholders have approved a proposal to raise the overall borrowing limit to Rs 4.5 lakh crore from the existing Rs 3.5 lakh crore. The company’s 51st AGM was held on September 25.