The Hindu : Business : Sops for mega power projects likely

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Sops for mega power projects likely

Special Correspondent

To boost capacity creation in XI Plan, says Union Power Minister

Existing mega power policy to be
rationalised further
40 p.c. of hydel
power to be
sold to merchant
producers

— PHOTO: ARUNANGSU ROY CHOWDHURY

BOOSTING CAPACITY CREATION: Union Minister of Power, Sushilkumar Shinde (left), in conversation with the Vice-Chairman, CESC, Sanjiv Goenka, at a seminar in Kolkata on Friday.

KOLKATA: In a bid to boost capacity creation, in this Plan and beyond, the Union Power Ministry proposes to further rationalise the existing mega power policy under which additional concessions may be given. This will be available to companies creating capacities of 1,000 MW and above for thermal power and 500 MW and above for hydel projects.

For the North-East, it will be hydel projects of 330 MW and above, Sushil Kumar Shinde, Union Power Minister, told reporters here on Friday.

Referring to the ultra mega power projects where the government did hand-holding for capacities in excess of 4,000 MW, he said of the nine projects proposed three had been sold and efforts were on to bring at least one unit within this Plan period.

On the new hydro policy, he said in order to give some incentives to companies investing in the North East, it had been decided to allow 40 per cent of the generation to be sold to merchant power producers.

With orders being placed for 65,000 MW already, the Union Power Ministry was confident of completing all orders for additional capacity creation in the power sector in the XI Plan by the end of the Plan period, Mr. Shinde, said. About 7,000 MW was already in the grid, he said.

Inaugurating a meeting on Electricity East 2008, he said including the 12,000 MW capacity proposed to be created by captive producers, a capacity of over one lakh MW was likely to be created by the XI Plan.

However, he said he was worried about the XII Plan and preparations had to begin now. He said corrective steps to create matching equipment manufacturing capacity had been taken as India needed more vendors for making power-sector equipment.

He said India had failed to fulfil its power sector capacity creation programme for three successive Plan-periods since the VIII Plan. This was mainly due to lack of monitoring, and equipment supply problems. To a question on the initial public offering (IPO) of Rural Electrification Corporation which is hitting the market on February 19, the Minister said the situation was being watched.

Union Power Secretary, Anil Razdan, said India would have to depend on ‘king coal’ for its energy security but efforts would have to be made to ensure that it was clean coal which was being burnt. Energy efficiency was also important. He, however, pointed out that Indian’s per capita emission was one-twentieth of the biggest emitters of green house gases in the world. “Our carbon footprints were but a spec”.

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