Power Installed Capacity Grows by 37% in Last four Years

40,781 MW capacity has already been added during the Eleventh Plan which is nearly double the capacity added in the entire Tenth Plan. This was stated by the Minister of Power Shri Sushilkumar Shinde while addressing the members of the Parliamentary Consultative Committee attached to his Ministry in New Delhi today. He said the last four years have seen rapid strides in capacity addition and the installed capacity has gone up from approximately 1,32,000 MW in March 2007 to over 1,81,000 MW in July 2011 with an unprecedented growth of 37%. Highlighting the strong participation by the private sector, the Minister said the private sector would contribute to nearly 36% of the capacity addition in the 11th Plan and over 50% of the capacity addition proposed for the 12th Plan. He said the private sector will bring in nearly 19,000 MW during the current plan.

Drawing attention to the initiatives which are underway to augment domestic manufacturing capacity for main plant and Balance of Plants, Shri Shinde said the manufacturing capacity of BHEL is being increased from 10,000 MW in December, 2007 to 20,000 MW by 2012. He said several new joint venture companies have been formed to manufacture supercritical boilers and turbine-generators for thermal power plants.

Stating that a significant part of the 12th Plan capacity addition is expected to come through super-critical technology, Shri Shinde informed that the Government has approved bulk tendering for 11 units of 660MW each, which is in the advanced stage of finalization while bulk tendering for nine units of 800 MW each has also been approved. Both the contracts provide for development of phased indigenous manufacturing of supercritical equipment in the country. The Minister said the UMPP initiative was launched for development of coal-based power projects of 4000 MW capacity each utilizing super critical technology. Four UMPPs have already been bid out and transferred to the identified developers and two units of Mundra UMPP of 800 MW each are expected to be commissioned in the 11th Plan itself.

Shri Shinde said the Government is taking steps for achieving much higher capacity addition in the 12th Plan. A capacity of over 80,000 MW is under construction for likely benefits during the XII Plan. He said the Planning Commission has already constituted a Working Group on power sector under the chairmanship of Secretary (Power) which is in the advanced stage of finalizing its report.

The members while appreciating the initiatives taken by the Ministry of Power called for addressing the issues such as regional imbalances in availability of power and growing demand for power.