First indigenously built Combined Cycle Gas Power Plant (Stage: I): - APSEB favoured location of the Gas

based Combined Cycle Power Plant at Vijjeswaram considering the availability of Gas supply made available thru 8" pipeline laid by ONGC from Naraspur to Kovvur Government land and take off facility of Power Generated thru the readily existing APSEB transmission Network. The Company installed a 100 MW Gas Based Combined Cycle Power Plant comprising two Gas Turbine Generators of 33 MW each and one Steam Turbine Generator of 34 MW capacity with Natural Gas as main fuel. M/s BHEL had undertaken to execute in turnkey the most recent Combined Cycle Plant indegenously built 33 MW Gas Turbine Generator units for the Ist Gas based Project in Andhra Pradesh at Vijjeswaram. The Company successfully commissioned their first phase of the plant containing 2 Nos. Gas Turbine Generators and 1 No. Steam Turbine Generator on 31.8.90, 2.3.91. and 17.3.92 respectively. Vijjeswaram Gas Power Station Stage : I was dedicated to Nation by Dr.M Marri Channa Reddy, Hon 'ble Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, on September 16th 1990.

Stage : II,

Gas Based Combined Power Plant, Vijjeswaram, Stage : II :With the inspiration and coordination drawn from the various wings of State Government and personal follow up of Hon'ble Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh at critical junctures which ensured priority clearances at all levels. The Company embarked on setting up of Combined Cycle Power with capacity of 172MW supplied, erected and commissioned by Sumitomo Corporation who led the Consortium in record time. The expansion Stage comprised of 1No.112MW Frame 9E Gas Turbine Generator and 1No.60 MW Steam Turbine Generator have been commissioned successfully on 31.3.97 and 22.12.97 respectively. Vijjeswaram Gas Power Station, Stage II was dedicated to Nation by Sri. Nara Chandrababu Naidu, Hon'ble Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh on 11th April 1998. The Gas Turbine in Stage - I have been operated on Natural Gas. The main fuel for the project in Stage : II has been Naphtha. The Gas Turbine has been designed to operate either on Natural Gas or Mix Fuel operations with Naphtha and Natural Gas mixed together with the limited Gas' supplies from Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL). The 112 MW Gas Turbine has been operated on Mixed fuel operation to the extent of availability of Natural Gas. Naphtha has been supplied by HPCL from their Terminals at Visakhapatnam and Kakinada by Trucks by Road. Additional Supply of Natural Gas : APGPCL has been sanctioned additional supply of Natural Gas for operation of Stage : II on Natural Gas. Accordingly, the pipeline in Krishhac - Godavari Basin has been upgraded by laying a separate pipeline from Narasapur to Vijjeswaram and the additional Gas has been released from 2.10.2000 by GAIL. It is gratifying to note that both the Stages in GTPS are

now being operated on Natural Gas. Due to high cost of Naphtha, the cost of Generation due to operation of Gas Turbine with fuel as Naphtha is about 3.50 per unit Operation of Gas Turbine with Natural Gas as fuel has considerably reduced the cost of Generation by about Rs.2.00 per unit, the

Project Expansion

In August - September, 1995, considering the continuing critical position on the Power front the Company decided to embark upon an expansion in the capacity of the Plant. APGPCL led by its Chairman, Sri. J Parthasarathi, immediately undertook a Site visit and recommended that an additional capacity of 160MW - 170MW could be added to capacity of the Plant at in the same location taking into consideration the available evacuation capacity on Site. The Board endorsed the idea expansion of the Plant accordingly and set up a new Project Management Committee under the Chairmanship of Sri. T.L. Sankar, Founder, Chairman of APGPCL. APGPCL set afloat tenders in November, 95 inviting tenders from bidders. After providing due clarifications on the tender and proactive interaction with the bidders and finally issued letter of intent in .favour of M/s. Sumitomo 'Corporation, Japan, who led the Consortium comprising GE, USA, Toshiba Plant Kensetsu (TPK) and others.

Andhra Pradesh Gas Power Corporation Ltd., (APGPCL

Andhra Pradesh Gas Power Corporation Ltd., (APGPCL) is a Company promoted by Andhra Pradesh State Electricity Board (APSEB) in association with industries in the Private and Public Sector to supplement Power Supply from the Grid. This pioneering effort has come into being wef 31.10.88 paving way for many more Gas Based Stations around the region.

Gas Power Generation : In about 3 decades from 1960, significant development took place in Power Generation in Andhra Pradesh. The discovery of considerable reserves in Natural Gas in Krishna Godavari Basin and advent of modern and high output Gas Turbines gave a Phillip in installation of short gestation plants to augments Power Generation to meet the fast growing Power demand.

ONGC conducted extensive exploration for Oil and Natural Gas in the Krishna Godavari Basin both on land and off-shore. Substantial quantities of Natural Gas have been discovered in Godavari Basin near Narsapur, Razole, Pasarlapudi, Mandapeta etc. ONGC established facilities for commercial supply of Natural Gas by 1987-1988.