The Hindu Business Line : Power capacity addition may fall short of target

SHORT OF TARGET: The Union Minister for Power, Mr Sushilkumar Shinde, flanked by the Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission, Mr Montek Singh Ahluwalia, and the Power Secretary, Mr R.V. Shahi, during the Power Ministers' Conference in the Capital on Thursday. — Kamal Narang

New Delhi, Nov 16

Power generation capacity addition during the Tenth Plan period (2002-07) is slated to fall far short of the original target of 41,000 MW. The Centre now expects actual capacity addition by the end of the current Plan period (by March 2007) to be around 30,600 MW.

"The capacity addition will be well below the target of 41,000 MW for the Tenth Plan period," the Planning Commission Deputy Chairman, Mr Montek Singh Ahluwalia, told reporters on the sidelines of a conference of State Power Ministers here. He said even though there would be some capacity addition during the remaining months of the Tenth Plan, it would be difficult to meet to the target.

Capacity break-up

The Power Secretary, Mr R.V. Shahi, said the country is likely to see a capacity addition of 30,642 MW during the current Plan period, about 75 per cent of the original target. The Government had originally fixed a target of 41,000 MW, which was subsequently scaled down during the mid-term review of the Tenth Plan to 36,956 MW.

Mr Shahi said a total of 17,700 MW of additional capacity has been commissioned so far and projects with capacity of another 12,898 MW are expected to come up during the remaining five months till March 2007. Of the total capacity addition, Central PSUs would account for 16,179 MW, while the states would see a capacity addition of 11,008 MW. The private sector would add 3,455 MW of capacity, he said.

Advance action

The Power Minister, Mr Sushilkumar Shinde, who had called the conference of State Power and Energy Ministers to review the achievements in the Tenth Plan, said the state governments must ensure advance action for the projects to be taken for the Eleventh Plan. The country currently faces a 7.5 per cent energy shortage and 11 per cent peaking shortage and completion of new projects is essential to bridge this huge shortfall, he said.

Mr Shinde also said the states must provide the requisite equity support for new state sector projects where internal resource generation was not adequate.

The targeted capacity addition for the Eleventh Plan period is 66,463 MW, of which almost 46,114 MW would come from the thermal sector and 17,189 MW from the hydro sector capacities.

Nuclear power plants would produce 3,160 MW.