Merchant power plants, a new concept under open access facility provided in the new Electricity Act, have to tie up most of their capacity under long-term agreements as they can sell only 15- 20% of what they generate on day-to-day basis under the given constraints, said R P Singh, chairman and managing director, Power Grid Corporation of India.
"Open access is a myth under the present circumstances," Singh said while stating that huge transmission capacity needs to be built on a commercially viable basis in the country before open access becomes a reality.
According to him, a 15-20% surplus capacity in the transmission system, which is expected to be scaled up to 37,000 Mw by the end of the 11th Plan from the existing 15,000 Mw , needs to be created to support the principle of open access. That is how these merchant power plants can become viable, he added.
Transmission is a critical infrastructure for evacuating and transmitting power freely from one region to other depending on the supply-demand situation in the country. With the past experience of a couple of transmission projects ending up in huge losses to PGCIL, the corporation now wants to take up any new project only if it is commercially viable with power transmission agreements with the power generators already in place.
"We are ready to enter joint ventures, as we did recently, either by being a minority partner or a majority partner depending on the requirement in transmission projects. We welcome private investments in the sector. IPPs should understand the fact that private investors come in only when the project is commercially viable," he said while delivering an endowment lecture on Transmission Challenges in Open Electricity Market.
The corporation is using new technologies to use the existing transmission lines to add higher transmission capacities and also to avoid the need for acquisition of more land for the right of way for the new transmission lines, Singh added. |
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