Mechanism for pvt investment in power transmission shortly

New Delhi, Apr 6: The government will shortly put in place an institutional mechanism for encouraging private investment in power transmission, Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde said today.

''Through this mechanism, specific transmission projects would be formulated and investors, both private and public, would be asked to compete for development of these projects,'' Mr Shinde said in his keynote address at the 1st EU-India business conference on energy.

He said the selection of a developer would be through tariff-based bidding for transmission services.

Calling upon the European Union to invest in India's energy sector, he said the government would remove all irritants coming in the way.

He listed several areas, such as wind energy and biomass-based electricity, in which India and the EU could gain substantially by mutual cooperation.

''There are also additional investment opportunities for setting up of standalone systems in rural areas,'' he said and added that no licence was required for establishing a composite scheme of generation and distribution in notified rural areas.

He also cited the vast scope in distribution segment for the private enterprise.

''Captive coal mining for specific end use such as power, cement and steel is another area for investment opportunities,'' he said.

He expressed the hope that business to business contact between India and the EU, like the present conference, would facilitate higher and higher investment and provision of services.

''If there are any barriers or irritants coming in this process, we are willing to examine the same.''

EU Commissioner for Energy Andris Piebalgs also called for cooperation between India and the EU in the wind energy sector. He said projections show that 15 per cent of the EU's energy consumption by 2015 would be met from global energy sources, and eight per cent of the energy needs of the transport sector would be attained through bio fuel.

Pointing out that higher international petroleum prices would continue to prevail, he called for new technology solutions, new approach and new global cooperation in the energy sector.

UNI