The Hindu Business Line : Power crisis looms large this summer

New Delhi April 8 A power crisis across much of the country is looming large this summer, with a cumulative 5,727 MW of generation capacity from 20 ongoing projects that were to come up by end-March under the Tenth Plan targets now facing delays in commissioning.

Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, where load shedding has already started, are faced with peaking shortages in the days ahead while more northern, central and western States could face the brunt as summer progresses, with a number of central generating stations in the region among those slipping in their commissioning schedule.

While a majority of these delayed projects are likely to come up well beyond the summer peak, what makes the situation more serious is that the additional slippage is over and above the capacity of over 10,000 MW that has been dropped from the original Tenth Plan target of 41,110 MW.

Projects delayed

According to Government data, major projects among those dropped from the list include two 500-MW units from NTPC's Sipat - II and Kahalgaon-II projects, a 704-MW unit of Dabhol-II, a 304-MW unit of the Maneri Bhali-II hydro project in Uttaranchal, 250-MW of the Ghatghar hydro project in Gujarat, a 500-MW unit of the Bellary power project in Karnataka, a 110-MW unit of Dholpur project in Rajasthan and the 250-MW unit-6 of DVC's Meija project.

Most of these projects are to be commissioned well into this summer, with Maneri Bhali scheduled to go on-stream only after September, the Dholpur unit in August, Ghatghar, Kahalgaon-II and Dabhol-II units in June-July and Sipat-II, Meija unit-6 and Bellary in May, according to the Government's revised estimates.

Two gas-based project of NTPC — Kawas and Gandhar — were also included as additional projects during the Tenth Plan but are not likely to take off on account of bleak gas availability.

With States trying to tie up power from whatever limited sources are available during the peak summer months, power tariffs for some of these deals have shot up to Rs 7-10 per unit.

Targets carried over

As against the original Tenth Plan target of 41,110 MW, which was subsequently pruned to 30,641 MW, only 17,995 MW (or 58 per cent) had been achieved till December 2006. With just three more months to go for the Tenth Plan, a massive 12,646 MW was to be commissioned by March if even the slashed target of 30,641 MW was to be met. Of this, now 5,727 MW has been pushed back to the next Plan.

The Ministry of Power has admitted that out of the 41,110 MW original capacity addition target for the Tenth Plan, over 12,500 MW was ruled out as "not feasible" because of "inadequate preparedness." These include the 3,960-MW (660 MW unit size) projects of NTPC based on new super critical technology, where NTPC has blamed equipment manufacturer BHEL for delays in getting the technology.

Over 3,300-MW hydro projects were dropped since crucial inputs like techno-economic clearance, PIB and environmental clearances were not in place, besides delays in award of works and delay in investment decisions.

In the case of private sector projects, the reasons of slippages are mainly relating to escrow cover not being given by State Government and financial closure not achieved by the developers. Such projects add up to 900 MW.