~15.

7 lakh-cr needed
to provide 24x7
power by 2019
Sub-group appointed by Forum of Regulators suggests
fuel linkage for power generation & a special purpose
vehicle to provide clearance to miners
based thermal plants and adequate coal linkages and supplies should be ensured for all
The Centre will need a whop- commissioned capacities and
ping ~15.70-lakh crore to pro- for the plants likely to be comvide power round the clock, to missioned within the next five
years.
everyone.
This is necessitated as the
Providing reliable, secure
and quality power to everyone projected domestic coal
requirement will be
between 2015 and
800 million tonnes
2019 is one of the The sub-group
by 2016-17 against
flagship projects of has also
the projected availthe Bharatiya Janata suggested a
ability of only 560
Party-led National special
million tonnes for
Democratic
programme
the power sector.
Alliance.
should be
The sub-group has
The proposed launched for
a made a strong
investment
will aggressive
case for the formaresult in the sale of reduction in
tion of a special
about 1,280 billion aggregate
units.
transmission and purpose vehicle to
These are the key commercial losses expeditiously
obtain environfindings of a subgroup appointed by the Forum mental and other clearances
of Regulators, headed by before auctioning of coal
Karnataka
Electricity blocks for exploitation by
Regulatory Commission chair- mining companies.
The sub-group has suggestperson M R Sreenivasa Murthy.
The forum discussed the ed that the concept to commisreport at its meeting last month sioning time be pruned to 40
and decided to forward it to the months for generation and the
Union power ministry for fur- conceptualisation to award
process be also reduced to five
ther action.
According to the report, the to six months from 21 months.
generation projects envisaged As far as gas-based power projfor completion by 2018-19 need ects are concerned, they should
to be given priority in fuel link- be bundled with other sources
age. The highest priority should of energy to make peak power
be given to achieve plant-load affordable for distribution comfactor of 80-85 per cent for coal- panies. Furthermore, the subSANJAY JOG

Mumbai, 12 January

group has recommended that

emphasis on renewable capacity addition particularly in solar
and wind energy be given considering the short gestation
period.
On the increase in the
transmission capacity, the subgroup has pitched for a mission
mode-approach for achievement of 100 per cent electrification of un-electrified households, particularly, states which
have less than the national average proportion of electrified
households.
A
separate
machinery with special funding arrangements should be
carved out to implement the
programme in Bihar, Assam,
Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and
Odisha, where less than 50 per
cent of the households have
electricity supply.
On strengthening power distribution, the sub-group has
suggested that a special programme should be launched
for aggressive reduction in
aggregate transmission and
commercial losses with an
objective that these losses are
cut at the rate of two per cent
per year over the next five years.
Besides, star-rated pumps
should be made mandatory
where agricultural consumption exceeds 10 per cent of the
total electricity consumed in
the state.