Power minister Sushil Kumar Shinde on Thursday said his ministry was expecting a capacity addition of over 1-lakh mw by the end of 11th Plan in 2012.
If achieved, it will be the highest so far as the power capacity addition during the 8th, 9th and 10th Plan put together was 56,722 mw.
Giving details of a recent sectoral review undertaken by him, Shinde said besides the capacity addition of 78,577 mw proposed earlier under the 11th Plan period, the power ministry was expecting a capacity addition of 14,000 mw from renewable sources, essentially wind and power and another 12,000 mw through the captive route.
Shinde said during the April 2007-January 2008 period a total of 7,263-mw power capacity has been added. Orders for 60,214 mw power capacity has already been placed and orders for another 11,000 mw will be awarded in the next one-month before the end of this fiscal.
Alongside, in a significant development power ministry officials on Thursday said, the government is considering cutting down the land requirement of ultra mega power projects by up to 40 % in a phased manner. This, as per officials, follows the recommendations made by the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) in its recent report.
The recommendations came in the wake of most of the 4,000 mw projects facing land acquisition troubles. Asked to comment, power secretary Anil Razdan confirmed and said the government is not looking at mandatory reductions in land acquisitions, but could certainly press the developers.
A senior power ministry official said the finding would be applicable only for new projects and will not affect the already awarded projects.
Moreover, the recommendations may not be applicable for hilly/uneven terrains and land falling in forest area. However, clarity over the issue is yet to be formally worked out.
As per the CEA?s report titled ?Land requirement of thermal power stations?, the main plant requirement is up to 0.6 acre per mw and 0.5 acre per mw for setting up ash dyke. The prevalent practice is, however, utilising 0.75 acre per mw for developing main plant and 0.5 acre per mw for ash dyke.
On his part, CEA chairperson Rakesh Nath said, ?Land has not been used efficiently for setting up thermal power plants. However, the practice has helped enhancement of capacity at existing sites.? With the new report, there can be significant reduction in land acquisition costs for developers of thermal power projects, he added.