Over 45,000 Mw capacity addition behind schedule
BS Reporter / New Delhi July 19, 2009

Six-fold rise in capacity by 2030 is needed for 9% GDP growth

At a time when the government is trying hard to add power generation capacity of over 78,000 Mw during the current Five-Year Plan, projects of over 45,000 Mw currently under construction are running behind schedule. The latest data obtained from the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) says that projects behind schedule include around 35,000 Mw of thermal power projects and rest 10,000 Mw of hydro power projects, a major chunk of which is scheduled to be commissioned during the current Plan period ending March 2012.

Several factors including delay in placing order for main plant and balance of plant (BoP) equipment for thermal projects, delays in preparation of project reports and in getting environmental clearances for hydro projects have resulted in these projects running behind schedule.

The quantum of the power capacity lagging behind schedule is around 65 per cent of the total 66,000 of generation capacity under execution in the country.

The Integrated Energy Policy (IEP) has recommended that the country’s power generation capacity need to be raised six-fold, from the current level of around 1,50,000 Mw to 9,60,000 Mw by 2030 in order to sustain a 9 per cent gross domestic product (GDP) growth.

The government has failed to meet the targets for the 9th and 10th plans. It even failed to meet the target for the first two years of the current Plan period, adding only 9,263 Mw in 2007-08 compared with the target of 17,000 Mw and 4,900 Mw in 2008-09 against a target of 11,061 Mw of capacity addition.

In order to meet this shortfall, the government has set up a target of adding around 5,600 Mw of fresh power generation capacity by the end of August this year, out of which over 2,000 Mw has already been commissioned so far.

CEA has already projected a peak power deficit of well over 12 per cent for the current financial year as compared to less than 11 per cent peak deficit last year.