On a little boat named Aquamarine, divers scan the wind and swell of the Arabian Sea before they can swim with the dolphins. Their mission: an overhaul job in the deep sea which will ensure a few hundred extra mega watts of electricity to power-starved Maharashtra from May 1.

To power the world’s costliest power plant at Dabhol that was unused and rusting on the west coast of Ratnagiri for the last five years, specialised teams from India and abroad are on a frantic operation since October. The job of waking up this sleeping tech giant spreads not just across its 1,600 acre site in the Sahyadris, but also under sea where a critical part lay 20 m deep, forgotten and hidden under marine growth.

The initial revival of the Dabhol plant will not end frequent power cuts in Maharashtra. “It will reduce only unscheduled load-shedding,” says Sanjay Bhatia, Managing Director, Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Corporation in Mumbai.

“It has been decided that about 500-550 MW will be supplied to us for 48 days around May 1 at Rs 4.25 per unit for eight hours a day,” says Bhatia. “We’re expecting the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission to approve this decision soon.”

What’s next after 48 days is still in the dark. But the dismal near future notwithstanding, Dabhol must be revived. “Honestly, I thought the targets would be very difficult to achieve,” says Thomas Chiangi, project manager, GE Energy, US, who was manager here during 2000-01 and requested that he be sent back this March.

... contd.