Southern States - Tamil Nadu   

Govt. plans to step up power generation, improve distribution

By Our Staff Reporter

CHENNAI JUNE 14. The Government proposes to increase the power generation capacity in the State by 2631 MW in the next four years and has undertaken works worth Rs. 977 crore to improve distribution networks, the Minister for Electricity, D. Jayakumar, has said.

Various Central projects would augment the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board generation capacity by 1,289 MW, while joint sector projects would contribute 500 MW. Another 436 MW was expected for State projects and 406 MW from the private sector. Besides, Tamil Nadu expected that it would be allotted 1,200 MW from the 2,000-MW Koodankulam Nuclear Power Project.

In addition, the National Thermal Power Corporation would establish a 1,000-MW thermal project in Chennai, and the Neyveli Lignite Corporation was likely to enter into an agreement with the Government for another 1,000-MW project at Tuticorin, the Minister said.

Under the state sector, gas-based power project were expected to come up at Valuthur in Ramanathapuram district and Kuttalam in Nagapattinam district. The Pykara Ultimate Stage Hydro Electric Project and the Bhavani Kattalai Hydro Electric Project were also likely to be commissioned soon. The capacity addition this year would be 807 MW.

Mr. Jayakumar told the Power Ministers' Conference in New Delhi on Wednesday — a copy of his speech was released here today — that the total installed power capacity in the State was 8,249 MW, while the maximum demand was 6,960 MW and the daily consumption, 140 MU.

On distribution, he said improvement schemes in several circles had been taken up at Rs. 977 crores and would be implemented before April 2005. The effort would help to reduce technical losses and improve reliability, availability and quality of power.

Elaborating on reforms in the electricity sector, the Minister said that the Tamil Nadu Electricity Regulatory Commission's revised tariff would cover expenses for 2003-04 and generate a surplus of Rs. 234 crores. To bring down the level of cross-subsidisation, the commission had decided to impose tariff on agriculture and hut service consumers.

Finally, ``to meet the State's ever-increasing demand for energy'', the Minister urged the Centre to allow establishment of the third and fourth 1,000-MW nuclear power units at Koodangulam ``as the complex has the required infrastructure for additional four units''.

Mr. Jayakumar also sought the Centre's assistance in procuring gas allocation from the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas for a state-owned 100-MW natural gas based power station at Perungulam in Ramanathapuram.

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