UPPCL inks deal with cos

In a bid to meet power shortage in the state, Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Ltd (UPPCL) has signed a pact with central and private agencies.

“UPPCL has signed power purchase agreement with several agencies to ensure availability of additional 1,400 Mw power during Diwali,” a senior energy department official said here. Of this, a maximum of 600 Mw would be bought from Tata Power, while Knowledge Infrastructure would be providing 300 Mw.

As per the agreement, UPPCL will also purchase 200 Mw from National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), whereas Lanco, Global Power and JSW Power Trading Company would be providing 100 Mw each to the state.

UPPCL official said during festival time the state was expected to have thermal generation to the tune of 3,500 Mw, while generation of hydro power was expected to be around 500 Mw. To meet the demand, the corporation would be taking 3,500 Mw from the central pool. The state is expected to get additional supply of 1,400 Mw from October 16, he said.

BS Reporter adds: The power-starved state is targetting per capita power consumption of 1,000 kilowatt hour (KWh) by 2014, up from a dismal 340 KWh at present.

UPPCL has charted a three-pronged strategy on the recommendation of Energy Task Force (ETF), which entails setting up power projects under the public-private partnership (PPP) model, buying power from other sources and ramping up generation by state-owned units.

The state is facing acute power crisis with the total availability of power, both from generation and import from other sources, standing at roughly 6,000 Mw against the total demand of over 9,500 Mw.

Large parts of the state are subjected to long outages to bridge the shortfall.

UP’s population would cross 200 million by 2012 and to meet the desired annual per capita availability of 1,000 units and with 5 per cent growth rate, approximately 25,000 Mw additional power generation would be required in the 12th Five-Year Plan apart from scheduled-capacity additions.

Acknowledging the challenges, UPPCL Chairman and Managing Director Navneet Sehgal said a “well-defined” plan for boosting power availability in the state to attain almost 45,000 Mw during the 12th Plan had been laid out on the recommendations of ETF headed by the chief secretary.

“We plan to not only attain 1,000 KWh per capita consumption level by 2014 as a benchmark at par with national projections but also to become a power surplus state,” he added. ETF had recommended a three-way mechanism to identify and establish power projects.