Taking Some Strong Strides

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><root available-locales="en_US," default-locale="en_US"><static-content language-id="en_US"><![CDATA[<p>India seems to be finally beginning to fix its broken power connections. The country has already added more than 10,000 megawatt (MW) of power-generation capacity in the current financial year (2010-11). This is the highest ever addition to the country's power-generation capacity in a single fiscal since Independence.<br><br>By end-March, power ministry officials expect the total capacity addition during the fiscal to be in the region of 15,000 MW. That is almost 71 per cent of the total 21,180 MW of capacity added during the 10th Plan period (2002-07). The highest addition to power generation capacity achieved in a year earlier was 9,585 MW in 2009-10. <br><br><img src="/businessworld/system/files/powering_ahead_200x238.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 5px; border: 2px solid black;" width="200" height="238">The growth in power-generation capacity has been driven by an addition of close to 9,300 MW of thermal power capacity in the first nine months of the fiscal. This has been led by the private sector. The thermal capacity addition till now is already higher than the 9,100 MW capacity added in the last fiscal.<br><br>A large chunk of the capacity addition this year has come from the private sector — 1,200 MW from Sterlite's plant at Jharsuguda (Orissa); 1,320 MW from Adani Power at Mundra (Gujarat) and 600 MW from JSW Energy at Ratnagiri (Maharashtra). At 3,120 MW, it accounts for almost a third of the total capacity addition.<br><br>However, despite the seemingly positive performance in 2010-11, the country is still going to miss the reduced target of adding 62,374 MW of capacity during the 11th Plan (2007-12). The government had earlier lowered the target from the original 78,577 MW set at the start of the 11th Plan. Based on current additions, it is quite likely that the country will add close to 55,000 MW in the Plan period.<br><br>Despite missing the target, the government has set an ambitious target of adding around 100,000 MW of capacity during the 12th Plan (2012-17) period. During the 12th Plan, 50 per cent of the power plants commissioned will be super critical. These plants operate at higher temperatures leading to greater efficiency.<br><br>If the private sector continues to keep pace, that could be achievable. But meeting that target could become tough if industry faces problems in getting regulatory clearances quickly.<br><br>(This story was published in Businessworld Issue Dated 07-02-2011)</p>