Ministry Urges Cea To Pen Action Plan To Improve Plf

The power ministry has asked the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) to prepare an action plan for improvement in the plant load factor (PLF) and identify plants having PLF less than 75 per cent.

The step is a part of the ministry's blueprint for augmenting power generation. The blueprint prepared by the ministry recently has also identified evacuation of surplus power from captive plants, renovation and modernisation of existing plants and demand side management as short-term measures to improve the power situation.

According to the blueprint, the ministry has decided to set up a committee to go into the issue of matching time and load profiles so as to help manage the demand across different regions in accordance with the identified timings of high and low demands in different parts of the country.

It will also ask the central undertakings to improve performance on all the parameters. The blueprint says that one of the steps envisaged in this regard is to make the targets in terms of generation, efficiency, productivity and capacity addition progressively higher.

The long-term measures envisaged in the blueprint includes comprehensive monitoring of project implementation and an integrated action plan for power development with nuclear and non-conventional energy sources.

A power project monitoring committee is being set up in the ministry. "Special secretary (power) has been taking weekly reviews to monitor the progress of power projects to be identified for commissioning up to 2012. Efforts are also underway to have an institutional arrangement to expedite inter state inputs for early clearance of projects," the blueprint says.

To ensure an integrated development, a co-ordination committee for power has been constituted for close co-ordination among ministries concerned to deliberate on issues pertaining to generation programmes, evacuation schemes, operational issues and grid-related problems.

Headed by power secretary A K Basu, other members of the committee are secretary department of atomic energy, secretary non-conventional energy sources, principal adviser planning commission (energy), and chairman CEA.

The ministry has also constituted a committee of experts to identify the sources of funds including government funding, multi-lateral and bilateral assistance, institutional financing, market borrowings, internal resources, private investment and suggest measures for resource mobilisation.