Power capacity addition target may be revised downward again - Law and order issues, delay in equipment supply cited as key reasons

Law and order issues, technical glitches and equipment supply delays may force the Government to scale down the power generation capacity addition target for the XIth Five-Year Plan once again to 55,000 MW from 62,000 MW earlier.“I think 62,000 MW looks unlikely... Maybe we can do about 55,000 MW,” a Power Ministry official said.

“There are law and order problems in Jammu and Kashmir, West Bengal and northeastern states... We are facing such problems at our Uri and Teesta hydro-electric projects,” the official said, adding that certain thermal power projects in Uttar Pradesh are experiencing technical problems related to the equipment.

State-owned NHPC is constructing the Uri (Jammu and Kashmir) and Teesta (West Bengal) projects, which are running behind schedule.“Equipment at some thermal power projects in UP are facing problems... Chimneys are not functioning properly,” the official said.

Delay in the supply of equipment for plants is also posing a problem. “As far as main plant equipment (boilers, turbines and generators) is concerned... there is no problem, but for the balance of plant equipment, i.e., for coal-handling, ash-handling pl ants, they take time.”

At the start of the XIth Five-Year Plan Period (2007-12), the Government had set a target for adding 78,577 MW of power.

However, this was later revised downward to 62,000 MW by the Planning Commission, citing reasons such as the slow progress in ordering of equipment, resulting in cascading delays in the supply of these items.The Government has so far only been able to add over 23,000 MW of electricity during the XIth Plan, thereby making it an uphill task to reach 78,577 MW, or even the 62,000 MW capacity addition target in the terminal year of the current Plan period.Meanwhile, the Power Ministry has set a target for 1,00,000 MW of power capacity addition in the upcoming XIIth Plan (2012-17). — PTI