Though the country’s power generation capacity reached 10,000 megawatts in November last year, actual generation of such a quantum of electricity was not possible because of the dearth of energy supplies and mismanagement in power distribution, a report by the Planning Commission (PC) said on Wednesday. It prepared the report on January 15 so that the government can know about the actual progress and implementation of projects in the power sector. According to the commission’s report, 941 megawatts of power would not be available from the power plants, as there are shortages in supplies of natural gas. Other fuels for generating low-cost, base-load electricity, such as coal, or large hydropower projects, are not readily available. This has left the government with no option but to go in for fuel diversity for power generation.
The actual power generation at present stands at 9,059 megawatts. Of the total generation of power, 5,381 megawatts (59 per cent) comes from the public power plants and 3,678 megawatts (41 per cent) from the private power plants.
However, data of the Power Division—available on its website—shows that the public sector power plants accounted for 47 per cent of total generation, while the private sector accounted for 53 per cent. The respective shares of gas, hydro, coal and oil-based energy generation were 78.12 per cent, 2.34 per cent, 3.02 per cent, and 16.51 per cent. On the other hand, in FY 2011-12, a total of 35,118 million-kilowatt hours (MkWh) of net energy were generated while the electricity growth rate in FY 2013 was 8.86 per cent. The commission also said that at present, a total of 32 power plants is under construction. These will produce 6,419 megawatts, once operational. Of these, 11 plants are public and the rest 21 plants are private.
The commission added that the government has taken several initiatives to generate 7,000 megawatts by 2013 and 13,000 megawatts by 2018; these figures are close to the commitment made in the election manifesto. The major deterrents for fulfilling this commitment are the energy crisis and shortage of gas supplies.
The report noted that India’s electricity diplomacy efforts with Bangladesh are slated to break new ground, with 500 megawatts of power flows commencing between the two countries on December 4. Of these, while 250 megawatts is coming from NTPC Ltd, the remainder is being arranged by power trader PTC India Ltd, mainly from the West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd.
The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) approved the Ruppoor nuclear power plant recently. A total of 1,000 megawatts of power will be generated from the first phase of the project.
When the present government assumed charge, power generation was between 3,200- and 3,400-megawatts, against the national demand of 5,200 megawatts. In the election manifesto, the government had made specific commitments about power generation of 5,000 megawatts by 2011, and 7,000 megawatts by 2013.
The commission report said a total of 4,432 megawatts of power (as of September 2013) has already been added to the grid, from 2009 to 2013. But the report also noted that the severe power crisis compelled the government to enter contractual agreements for high-cost temporary solutions, such as oil-based rental and public sector peaking power plants, on an emergency basis.
This has resulted in tremendous fiscal pressure. With a power sector which is almost dependent on natural gas-fired generation (89.22 per cent), the country is confronting a simultaneous shortage of natural gas and electricity.
The government has developed the Power System Master Plan 2010. According to the master plan, demand of 19,000 megawatts has been forecast for 2021 and 34,000 megawatts for 2030. To meet this demand, the generation capacity should be 39,000 megawatts in 2030. The plan suggested going in for a fuel-mix option, which would include domestic coal at 30 per cent, imported coal at 20 per cent, natural gas (including LNG) at 25 per cent, liquid fuel at 5 per cent, and nuclear, renewable energy and power imports at 20 per cent. In line with the Power System Master Plan 2010, an interim addition to the generation plan, up to 2018, has been prepared, which is as follows.
Courtesy of The Independent
