IEEMA sees Orissa falling behind

The government of Orissa has accepted the techno feasibility report from more than 20 power companies, the combined capacity of these power generating plants being 33,190 Mw.

Besides this, companies like Tata Power Company Limited, Sterlite Energy Limited, AES Corporation, CESC Limited and Monnet Ispat Limited are also keen on setting up power plants in the state.

25 per cent of the generated power will be evacuated by Orissa State Power Trading Company Limited and the remaining 75 per cent by the Power Grid Corporation of India Limited. However, going by the state's current infrastructure capacities, only 2,500 Mw of power can be evacuated.

The IEEMA report observes that huge units of power production requires power infrastructure for augmenting the transmission and distribution of generated power from one place to another, and also for power trading.

The state is reeling under a deficit of trained manpower for transmission of power, shortage of power manufacturing equipment like boilers, turbines and generators, construction equipment like cranes and also constraints of related infrastructure like ports and roads.

Due to these constraints, the state is unable to meet its projected target even though the requirement for production, transmission and distribution of power is increasing drastically.

At present, Orissa produces 7,332 Mw of power out of which 2,000 Mw is being utilised by the state and the balance goes to the neighbouring states.

However, VS Verma, member (planning) of the Central Electricity Authority of Orissa feels that the state faces marginal power deficit.

"Statistics indicated that there was an energy deficit of 305 million units and peak power deficit of 87 Mw in the state between April 2006 and March 2007. The fact that Orissa is a surplus state in power and energy still remains a myth", concurred SK Nanda, convenor of the energy panel of the CII Orissa chapter.

To augment power sector growth, the state proposes to generate 28,000 Mw of power in the next few years using the four coal blocks which it received recently, having a reserve of 1,857 million ton.

The state government has drawn up a plan to set up three power plants- Berabahal Thermal Power Plant Company Limited, Matharpur Thermal Power Company Limited and the Samtrapur Thermal Power Company Limited, with a combined capacity of 8,500 Mw, entailing an investment of Rs 30,000 crore.

This apart, the state government is in the process of setting up a 4,000 Mw ultra mega power plant in Sundergarh district at a cost of Rs 16,000 crore.

Orissa is also expecting the allocation of three coal blocks by the Centre in the near future.

The state initiated the power sector reforms programme in 1995-96 by restructuring the Orissa State Electricity Board (OSEB) through the creation of three separate entities- Grid Corporation of Orissa Limited (GRIDCO), Orissa Power Generation Corporation Limited (OPGC) and Orissa Hydro Power Corporation Limited (OHPC).