GoI for private sector participation in power transmission schemes

The Dollar Business Bureau The Ministry of Power, Government of India, on Wednesday, informed about the Government of India’s move to encourage the private sector participation in boosting the power sector of the country. With a view to encourage and allow participation of private sector in building the power transmission capacity in India, the Government of India notified 14 power transmission schemes worth Rs 33,900 crore during 2014-15 period, said the Ministry of Power, in its latest release. These schemes will facilitate ways for the transfer of power from new Hydro electric projects in Bhutan and the generation linked projects in Chhattisgarh and Odisha, among others. These projects include 765 KV and 400 kV transmission system strengthening schemes/programmes in the Northern, Western, Southern and the North-Eastern Regions, added the release. According to the release, the government has notified nine transmission schemes worth Rs 12,272 crore during July 2014 and further five more transmission schemes worth Rs 21,659 crore were notified in February 2015. And, all the schemes had been allocated to the Bid Process Coordinator (BPC) namely REC Transmission Projects Company Limited (RECTPCL), a wholly owned subsidiary of REC Ltd and PFC Company Limited (PFFC), for carrying out bidding under Tariff Based Competitive Bidding (TBCB) route. The bid process is underway by both the BPCs, added the release. According to the Ministry, a total of 22,100 Circuit Kilometers (CKM) of transmission lines and 65,554 MegaVoltAmpere (MVA) transformation capacity has been achieved during 2014-15, recording the highest-ever in a year. And, this transmission capacity reach and the range covering transmission lines in 2014-15 as achieved by the Ministry of Power, stands against the Ministry’s set target of 22,100 CKM of transmission lines and 65,554 MVA of transformation capacity. It is noteworthy to mention here that the Ministry of Power, in line with an increase in transmission capacity, has also crossed $ 1 trillion units power generation in 2014-15, setting a record as the first-time ever in the country, with the highest contribution being from the coal-based power stations. The power generation during 2014-15 has registered a growth rate of 8.4% year-on-year and is the highest in the last two decades. Against a target of 17,830 MW, the generation capacity addition during 2014-15 stood at 22,566 MW, which is the highest achievement in a single year.    

May 20, 2015 | 7:30 pm IST.