Shinde seeks states’ help for power projects

New Delhi

Union Power Minister Sushilkumar Shinde on Tuesday said the state governments should proactively facilitate land procurement for power projects to help meet the capacity addition target of 88,000 megawatt (MW) over the next five years. He also said the deteriorating financial health of state power distribution companies and issues pertaining to fuel supply to plants are big challenges being faced by the power sector and need to be addressed urgently.

“With the target of about 88,000 MW, which includes 5,300 MW from the nuclear power proposed during the current plan period of 2012-17, we will have to address the issue of fuel availability and equally important is the issue of finding adequate land for setting up new power stations,” Shinde said at a meeting with state power ministers. “More projects would move faster if the state governments play a proactive role in identifying and facilitating the procurement of land,” he said. “The the focus during 2012-17 has to be on increasing domestic coal production,” he added.

“The problem of land is no less in the setting up of the transmission infrastructure, given the fact that in the current plan period we have a target of erecting some 37,800 MW of inter-regional transmission capacity,” Shinde said. He also expressed concern over the viability of state discoms. “The single biggest challenge to the viability and sustainability of power sector is the deteriorating financial health of distribution utilities in most states.” Planning Commission Member, Energy, BK Chaturvedi said the major focus in the next five years would be on renewables. see also p3, p4