The Hindu Business Line : Govt to tap India Inc's captive power capacity

WITH power shortages affecting much of the country, the Government plans to bring in around 5,000 MW of electricity into the system over the next two years by providing grid connectivity to the larger captive plants set up by India Inc. "We are targeting that by the end of the current Plan period, at least 5,000 MW capacity is brought into the grid. This would supplement the capacity addition effort launched by us during the period," the Union Power Minister, Mr P.M. Sayeed, told Business Line. Captive units, mostly set up by industry for its own consumption, accounts for a cumulative power generation capacity of nearly 20,000 MW. Following the passage of the Electricity Act 2003, owners of captive plants can sell their surplus power to the grid.

Speaking about the ongoing shortage of coal and gas, Mr Sayeed said that despite the loss of generation on account of a shortage of fuel, the Ministry had exceeded its power generation target during the last fiscal. "During the year 2004-05, there was record power generation of 587.3 billion units, which is 100.2 per cent of the target set for the year and 5.2 per cent higher than the generation in the previous year. The growth would have been around 8.5 per cent but for the loss of generation due to a shortage of coal and gas," he said.

He said the utilities in the power sector are tiding over the shortage in the short term by resorting to importing fuel. The Ministry was also working on putting in place contingency measures for the long-term and has already started working towards improving the efficiency of power stations with a plant load factor (PLF) of less than 60 per cent to improve overall output, he said.

Claiming that the Ministry would achieve over 90 per cent of its capacity addition target of 41,110 MW during the current Plan period, Mr Sayeed said: "We are making all efforts and I am confident we would be able to achieve a major portion of the target during the current Plan period."

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