The Hindu Business Line : Priority to stepping up power generation capacity in 11th Plan

Roadmap: Mr Anil Razdan, Power Secretary (right), releasing the a ‘White Paper on Strategy for 11th Plan and beyond’ in the presence of Mr Rakesh Nath Chairman, CEA (left), and Mr Manikam Ramaswami, Vice-Chairman, CII-Tamil Nadu State Council, at a meeting in Chennai on Saturday.

Our Bureau

Chennai, Aug. 25 Enhancing the capacity of power plant manufacturers and increasing the number of vendors are the major priorities in efforts to step up power generation capacity, according to Mr Rakesh Nath, Chairman, Central Electricity Authority.

Addressing a conference organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry on key inputs for the Indian power sector for the 11th Plan and beyond, he said that during the current five-year plan India planned to set up over 78,500 MW of power generation capacity — a big leap considering that the maximum addition was 22,500 MW in any of the earlier plan periods.

Shortage of equipment supply and executing agencies, including civil contractors and skilled manpower, were delaying projects, he said.

BHEL and NTPC needed to play a major role in developing new vendors. Qualification conditions need to be tailored to encourage entry of new players with financial capacity and capability. Utilities need to speed up clearances and improve procedures, introduce IT-based monitoring, he said.

Power plant manufacturers and developers need to adopt technical institutes in their vicinity to help create a skilled workforce. The Central Electricity Authority, the CII and the Ministry of Power have together set up a task force to coordinate with industry for the development of the sector, he said.

Mr Anil Razdan, Secretary, Central Power Ministry, said the Central Government would support any initiative to set up additional capacities.

It was all for “unshackling generation, transmission and distribution.”

With power shortages in some areas and surplus elsewhere, transmission should be open and there is no case of levying duty on transmission. Idle capacities and surplus captive power facilities need to be harnessed fully, he said.

Mr Manikam Ramaswami, Vice-Chairman, CII – Tamil Nadu State Council, said availability of power and cost of power were key factors affecting the competitiveness of Indian industry.

During the Tenth Plan period, about 21,000 MW or half of the planned addition to power generation capacity was achieved.

A white paper by the taskforce of CII and Central Electricity Authority on measures to achieve 78,000 MW capacity additions during the 11th plan period prioritises the needs of the sector, he said.

To avoid delays, preliminary work such as site identification and clearances must be completed before identifying the bidder; only power plants that sell at competitive prices should be permitted to operate, he said.