Jan 24 2011
Gujarat Power Corporation (GPCL), on behalf of the Gujarat Government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Atlantis Resources, a London-based energy developing company, to install a 50 MW tidal power generation project away from the coastline of Gujarat. The project estimated to cost around Rs.750 crore is expected to be commissioned by the year 2013.
The ‘seamark’ turbines to be used during the installation of the project will initially provide 50 MW of clean energy, which can be subsequently increased up to 250 MW. According to Timothy Cornelius, Atlantis Resources’s CEO, tidal power generation still remains an unexplored power source with only 2 GW installed power generation facility all over the world but has ample power generation potential. He explained that the high investment required for such installations would achieve break even in 8 to 10 years of time.
The project will be presently owned by GPCL and Atlantis and more number of investors will be introduced on conclusion of its front-end engineering and design (FEED) phase. Similarly the final costs per unit of electric power will be decided at the end of the FEED phase but is anticipated to be more competitive than some of the large solar projects proposed for installation all over the state. While the power generated by tidal energy is anticipated to meet 15% of the power demands all over the world it will meet only 5% of the annual requirement in India. The final per unit cost of the power generated from the project will be decided only on completion of the FEED phase.