Power generation capacity addn 68% below target in FY09

India's power generation capacity might have gone up by about 3,500 MW in fiscal 2009, but the capacity addition was dismal as it was over 68 per cent below the target of 11,061 MW set for the period, an economic think-tank has said.        

Power generation is, however, expected to grow by 4.6 per cent this fiscal as projects with a capacity of 7,730 MW are likely to commence generation in FY10, Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) said.        

"The total installed power generation capacity in India rose by 3,453.7 MW during April-March 2008-09. This is 68.8 per cent below the capacity addition target for 11,061 MW set for the period," CMIE said in May review.        

During 2009-10, projects with a capacity of 7,730 MW are expected to commence generation, it said.        

"This, together with a higher availability of coal and gas, is likely to result in an acceleration in thermal power generation growth. We expect total power output in India to rise by 4.6 per cent during 2009-10," CMIE said.        

The revival in hydro-power generation will bolster growth in total power generation, but at a moderate pace, it added.        

At present, India's total installed power capacity stands at 1,47,402.81 MW.Of this, 93,392 MW is generated from thermal and 36,647.76 MW is from hydro.While power generated from nuclear sources is 4,120 MW, output from renewable energy sources comes to 13,242.41 MW.        

"While thermal power output rose by 5.6 per cent, hydro and nuclear power output declined by 8.4 per cent and 12.3 per cent, respectively," CMIE said.        

However, plants with a capacity of 6,204.7 MW commenced power generation, partly due to slippage from last year's target capacity addition, it added.        

The month of March saw a sudden and sharp pick-up in growth of power generation, which led to a cumulative growth of 2.7 per cent in fiscal 2009, the think-tank said.        

"A more than proportionate increase in power demand vis-a-vis availability resulted in worsening of the average power deficit to 11 per cent during 2008-09," CMIE said.        

The Government of India has envisaged capacity addition of around 78,500 MW in the XIth Five Year Plan.         

Apart from this, techno-economic clearance body, the Central Electricity Authority, is ready with a plan of adding capacity nearly 1,00,000 MW in the next Five-Year Plan (2012-17).