The contribution of private sector to power generation is expected to be around 60 per cent in the 12 Five-Year Plan (2012-2017) period as against a meagre amount of 19 per cent recorded in the 11 Five-Year Plan (2007-12) period, according to N. Murugesan, Director General, Central Power Research Institute, Bangalore.
“The 11 Plan period had seen capacity addition of 54,000 MW of electricity. Of this, 47 per cent was contributed by the Central government, 34 per cent by the State government and the rest by companies such as National Thermal Power Corporation, National Hydroelectric Power Corporation, Tata Power and Reliance,” he said.
Addressing the valedictory function of an international conference on power and energy systems, organised by Velammal College of Engineering and Technology, here on Saturday, he said the power sector was all set to create huge employment opportunities as the Centre had planned to invest Rs.13,72,580 crore in the sector during the 12 Five-Year Plan period.
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In his address, R.S. Sundar, Site Director, Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project, said 65 to 70 per cent of the nation’s power requirement was met through thermal power plants. A 1,000 MW thermal power plant used about 30 lakh tonnes of coal every year. But most of those plants were operating on red alert due to insufficient stocks.
“Under normal conditions, a thermal plant should have stocks that would last at least for a week. It means that around 7,000 tonnes of coal should always be in store. However, most of our thermal power stations are operating with just three days’ stock. The problem with establishing hydel power stations is that they require huge tracts of land and water,” he said.
Principal N. Suresh Kumar was among others who spoke.
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