New Power plant in offing to meet Delhi's power needs

New Delhi, May 2: In a bid to meet the rising power needs of the capital and to reduce its dependence on the Northern Grid, the Delhi Government has plans to set up a new plant.

The decision to set up the 2000 MW power plant, the details of which are still being worked out, is primarily to reduce the capital's dependence on the Northern Grid which has, of late, been experiencing frequency problems due to the neighbouring states overdrawing electricity from it, Principal Secretary (Power) Rakesh Mehta told UNI.

The frequency problems encountered by the grid, which accounts for a high percentage of the capital's power requirement, has caused crisis in Delhi, with power cuts experienced during the peak period.

Sources in the Delhi government said the new power plant, which will be coal- based, would either be set up in Jharkhand or Chhattisgarh, depending on the availability of coal.

The need to set up the power plant has also arisen keeping in view the rising power needs for the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

The power demand has already reached 3240 MW.

At this rate, the demand would easily cross the 3626 MW level recorded last year.

According to a rough estimate, the capital will need about 6000 MW of power daily by 2010. With such a huge requirement, it has become necessary for the state government to meet at least 50 per cent of the power needs, the sources said.

Moreover, they said, the plant would help reduce dependence on the Grid, whose generation level has not been able to keep pace as some central sector plants are being non-functional.

Though the situation is expected to improve in the coming days with several central power plants likely to get back in operation the new plant would ensure that power supply is unaffected by the pressure on the Northern Grid.

Infact, in a major step to meet the power demands of the city independent of the Grid, Power Purchase Agreements to make an additional 1000 MW of power available to the capital in the next three years were recently signed by the Delhi transco Ltd with the Tehri Hydro Development Corp and the National Thermal Power Corp.

As per the agreements, 1031 MW additional power would be available to Delhi from five different power stations belonging to Tehri and NTPC by the year 2009.

UNI