As summer sets in, UP scrambles for energy to meet demand

Akhilesh Yadav wants a new ultra-mega power project from Centre

With the days getting hotter by the day, the Uttar Pradesh government is gearing up to meet the rising energy demand during the summer, when power cuts and outages are frequent due to shortage.

Considering that Uttar Pradesh elections are less than two years away in 2017 and power becoming an important issue during polls, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday directed the energy department to sent a proposal to the Centre for an ultra-mega power project (UMPP).

UMPP are large-sized power projects with a capacity of 4,000 Megawatt (Mw), which require investment of over Rs 20,000 crore.

Besides, Yadav has asked officials to tie up with energy surplus states for procuring power.

The demand-supply gap during summers widens to 3,000 Mw, which necessitates long hours of power cuts and rostering, especially in smaller towns and rural areas.

The chief minister was chairing a high-level meeting of the state energy department here to review the preparedness ahead of the peak energy demand period that extends until the onset of winters.

He also asked officials to stick to the project completion deadline, July, for the 500-Mw Anpara D power plant in Sonbhadra district.

On March 31, Yadav had dedicated the first 500-Mw unit of Anpara D thermal power project undertaken by the Uttar Pradesh Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam. Total investment of over Rs 7,000 crore is estimated on the entire project.

The ruling Samajwadi Party government is targeting to ramp up power generation and availability before 2017 polls to provide at least 16 hours and 22 hours power supply in rural and urban areas, respectively.

The government has been setting up new transmission and distribution sub-stations for seamless power supply, apart from new power plants. Now, the government wants to harness solar energy, including rooftop solar plants, as cleaner and additional energy resources.

The state wants to raise power availability to 20,000 Mw by 2016-17, from the current level of 10,000 Mw from all sources.

Uttar Pradesh is also grappling with high aggregate technical and commercial (AT&C) losses of about 40 per cent and it targets to bring this figure to five per cent by 2017.

AT&C losses are total of technical loss, commercial loss and shortage due to non-realisation of billed amount. It includes power theft and losses during power transmission and distribution.