Prolonged power cuts, angry, rioting citizens and a defunct industrial atmosphere notwithstanding, Uttar Pradesh is dreaming big these days.
While a delayed monsoon has already shot up the gaping difference between demand and supply for electricity in the state to 3,000 mw, adding to the already embarrassing situation in which the state is forced to overdraw from the grid and thereby endangering its safety, the plans, as on paper, present an extremely rosy picture of the state. For this, the government plans to engage both the state as well as the private sector.
According to these plans, by end of 12th Plan period in 2017, Uttar Pradesh will have no need to import power to fulfil its own needs nor would there be any power cuts in the state. On the other hand, it will be producing surplus power, which it can sell to other power deficient states.
?The end of 2010 will see the commissioning of two units of 500 mw capacity each: the Parichcha and the Harduaganj extension. An additional 600 mw will be generated by Reliance Power?s Rosa Thermal power plant, which will start generating power by early 2010, thus giving us almost 2,000 mw of additional power,? a senior official of the energy department said, adding that with the average growth in the demand for power growing at 8-9% every year, the added generating capacity will in all likelihood mitigate the requirement of that time.
The capacity addition in generation is expected to rise in 2011 too, when the state government hopes to start generation of 2,200 mw power from the Anpara C project.
During the 12th Plan, the Rs 7,200 crore, 1,320-mw super critical Meja thermal power project near Allahabad, for which an agreement was signed between the Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation and the NTPC is likely to be commissioned by 2013-14, while Anpara E and Obra will produce another 1,320 mw each. Work on many other projects in the private sector is also slated to start off during that period.
?While Bara and Karchchana, which will produce 1980 mw and 1320 mw, respectively, are expected to be commissioned by the end of the 12 Plan period, efforts are on to hand over the 4,000-mw ultra mega power plant in Lalitpur, alongwith the 1,980 mw in Sonebhadra district and another 1320 mw in Jawaharpur, Etah district to the private sector.
Interestingly, the state government is also in the process of forming a special purpose vehicle (SPV) between the Yamuna Expressway Authority, Greater Noida Authority, Noida Authority and the UPPCL, which will then set up a 2,000 mw power plant in the NCR, which will plug the requirement of the region. ?The state government is planning more power projects to plug the demand and we are in the process of identifying them and starting work on them as fast as we can,? said the official, requesting anonymity.
It may be mentioned that the restricted demand for power in the state has reached a record-breaking figure of 9,500 mw, while only 6,500 mw of power is being made available.
And after having drawn flak in the recent Lok Sabha elections, the government is concerned that the dwindling power situation may reflect on its own fortunes in the coming years. ?We are sure that by the end of the 12th Plan period, we will be producing surplus power and would be in a position to sell it at a premium to other states,? the official stated.