India’s Manmade Power Crisis
Posted : December 22, 2006 at 5:07 am [IST]
India dreams to be the major global manufacturing hub with labour intensive industries-small and big, spread all throughout the country. And almost every one, be it the Prime Minister, or the Finance Minister, or the head of Planning Commission, agrees that manufacturing can only play the role of saviour for the teeming millions youths in India.
Is it is possible without having sufficient capacity in power generation and efficient transmission and distribution? The answer is simply a ‘no’.
The country must have abundance of power to reach right up to all the villages so that manufacturing can go everywhere to engage the people productively. Is it possible to have the power in abundance and soon? Perhaps here also the answer is a plain ‘yes’.
Recently concluded Nuclear deal with US for civil use, mainly for generating the clean power had maximum media coverage. But it is not going to happen tomorrow or on short term. Instead India must follow the power projects based on traditional fossil fuels that have already been conceived.
Why has India not overcome the pwer shortage till date? The answer is simple. It is plain failure of the execution of the projects in time. The majority of power generation is in public sector. And the public sector starts big projects, but never completes it in scheduled time. The projects of private sector also suffer due to many controls. For example, Reliance Dadri Project is one such.
And how will India achieve the sufficiency in power in future? India must have to do away the red tapes causing the delays. It must complete a power project that it takes up, at the most in 3-4 years following the best world standard. And that is doable.
NTPC remains the main power plant builder for India. It must become a 1,00,000 MW company. Many private players are also now in the field with Reliance Energy and Tata Power as main. Many other domestic as well foreign players are ready to jump or are already in the race, as it was evident in the recent bids for the mega power projects.
BHEL remains the sole major provider of power plant equipment. Many are sceptical about its ability to maintain the supply to all the projects in process. Naturally, either BHEL adds on its capacity by expansion or acquisition, or the entrepreneurs will go for alternative import route. And the government must not put any restriction. This is not the time to encourage the growth of an enterprise, as it is domestic and hold the growth of the country. The task is decidedly onerous for the suppliers of power plants manufacturers if India is to achieve the target of adding 66,463 mw to its generation capacity in the 11th Plan Period and another 86,500 mw in the 12th Plan Period.
And if the two warring ministers wish so, NTPC can go additionally for the manufacture of plant and equipment, and BHEL can go for setting up power plants on its own in natural process of expansion and diversification. But let it be decided by the CEOs and their technical teams of the two companies rather than the ministers.
Can India then add 1,50,000 MW of generation capacity in next 5-8 years? It must. The capacity must have a good lead over the requirement. Let all the private power companies be encouraged to go full blast. As reported, REL has lined up close to a dozen projects to take the company’s installed capacity to around 18,000 mw by 2012. Tata Power has similar ambitions. Many in the country are having similar ambitions to be a major player in power sector. The government and its bureaucrats must facilitate in all manner in cutting down the time for the initiation and the completion of the projects.
Two ultra mega projects of 4,000 MW each are already approved. Hyderabad-based Lanco Infratech, in association with the Singapore-based Globleq, has won the bid for the pithead project, Sasan in Madhya Pradesh by offering a price of Rs 1.19 per unit. Tata power emerged the winner for Mundra in Gujarat. Tata Power’s tariff bid for the imported coal-based Mundra power project was the lowest at Rs 2.26 a unit. Tata Power has joined hands with Siemens and Doosan for equipment procurement and construction. Number of companies participating with a total of 16 bids for the two projects brings hope. There is a 14-month limit for financial closure and commencement of construction too. And many more of the mega power projects are in pipeline.
The significant decisions for locating the power plants near a port or at pitheads are already in place. It will eliminate the delays in coal movement between the coalmines and the power plants.
The efforts are on for all avenues to kill this bug. Tamil Nadu and Gujarat are leading a revolution in renewable energy installations and generation, especially from wind. Major wind turbine manufacturing companies are making investments to manufacture renewable energy equipment. Investments are taking place in solar energy, co-generation, biomass and biogas-based power projects.
Naturally, parallel actions are also directed for de-bottlenecking of the transmission and distribution by cutting down the huge losses too. Power conservation is another area that must get a lot of attention.
One can think of an India with surplus power in next five years. And it must happen.
Read “Will ultra-mega power projects deliver?”
It’s boom time for equipment makers with the…Power sector on high voltage
- Indra
Category: Government Policy/Administration |
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