Private Power Starts Pouring Into Grid

The power ministry says more than 800 mw of private power will be available during the current financial year and more than 3,000 mw in another year.

One steam turbine of the GVK-promoted Jegurupadu power station in Andhra Pradesh producing 52.8 mw has already been synchronised with the national grid along with the 18-mw Shivpur and 12-mw Maniyar hydel projects in Karnataka and Kerala respectively.

If all the 14 power projects now under construction by independent power producers start generating within a year, the country will have an additional generation of about 3435.5 mw.

Besides Jegurupadu, the most prominent private sector project on which construction is about to resume is the controversy-ridden 715-mw Dabhol power project in Maharashtra promoted by Enron. The other important projects are: 208-mw God-avari in Andhra Pra-desh (promoted by Spectrum), 300-mw Baspa hydroelectric project in Hima-chal (JP Indust-ries), 515-mw Hazira in Guja-rat (Essar), 655-mw Paguthan in Gujarat (Torr-ent), 400-mw Maheshwar hydroelectric project in Mad-hya Pradesh (S Kumar), 200-mw Jojobera in Bihar (Jamshedpur Power) and 160-mw GIPCL Baroda in Gujarat (GIPCL).Three small power projects are also coming up in the private sector. These are: 15.5-mw Bansakandi and 9-mw Adamtilla in Assam (both promoted by DLF) and Tawa hydroelectric project in Madhya Pradesh (HEG).

 

The policy to encourage greater investment by private enterprises in the power sector was introduced in 1991 to mobilise additional resources for capacity addition in power generation and distribution.

The legislation governing the electricity sector was amended in October 1991 to provide for a more liberal administrative, legal and financial environment.

Private investors were allowed to set up generating companies which would supply power in bulk to the grid.

These companies can also supply power directly to consumers with the consent of the state government concerned.

To streamline and simplify the clearance procedures further, a notification was issued last month, enhancing the limit of capital expenditure of schemes requiring concurrence of the Central Electricity Authority from Rs 400 crore to Rs 1,000 crore in case of generating station scheme put up by generating companies selected through competitive bidding.

Besides promoting conventional power projects, the private power policy addresses additional power generation through improved productivity and efficiency such as captive and cogeneration plants, renovation and modernisation. The policy has brought in a number of power projects.Nearly 200 expressions of interest have been registered amounting to an investment of about Rs 2,80,000 crore and about 75,000 mw of installed capacity.