Power generation targets in current 5-year plan may slide down

THE REVISED capacity for additional target of power generation is 62374 MW for 11th five-year plan and may slip further to around 55000 MW. Despite anticipated slippage of targets from 78000 MW to 55000 MW, Power Ministry has proposed addition of more than 1,00,000 MW of generating capacity in 12th five-year plan.
The further slippage in the current five-year plan is mainly due to delay in ongoing hydro projects and financial problems with thermal projects. The Power Ministry expects a shortfall of another 4,000 MW due to delay in commissioning of hydro-power project out of total hydro capacity of 8237 MW.

Last year (2009-10), 9485 MW of power was added, the highest capacity addition in a single year. This year the target is 18755 MW for thermal generation and 1436 MW for hydro generation. The total addition this year will exceed 10,000 MW. Next year’s thermal target is 13791 MW and hydro target is 3370 MW.

Uma Shankar, Power Secretary, said last week that the country will need an estimated investment of $300-400 billion for the projects on the anvil for the Twelfth Plan (2012-17) period, including funds for setting up generating capacity and establishing the transmission and distribution networks.

The major problem likely to come in the way of capacity addition will be shortage of indigenous coal and the power sector is expected to import more coal in the coming fiscal than in the current year. This year, coal imports targets are 35 million tones and for next year this will be above 50 million tones. This will increase every year with setting up of new thermal projects in the country.