5 fast track power projects cleared

Bhopal, July 6: The Centre has cleared five fast-track projects for increasing electricity generation capacity by 25,000 to 30,000 Mega Watt, Union Minister of State for Non-Conventional Energy Vilas Muttemwar said today.

''These fast track projects to be implemented with private participation would be completed in four years. The private partner companies would be permitted to import coal also,'' he told newsmen here.

''The success of these projects depended on the interests shown by the state governments,'', he said.

Lauding generation of 1,400 MW in Maharashtra using Jatropha and Karanj as fuel, Mr Muttemwar said the Centre had received proposals from Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Karnataka for cultivating Jatropha and Karanj on sizeable land belonging to the tribals lying vacant. These proposals would promote non-conventional energy generation, he pointed out.

Ten states had immense potential for wind energy, Mr Muttemwar said, adding in Madhya Pradesh alone, about 5,000 MW could be produced using wind energy.

India stood in fourth position in wind energy and it had started export of wind energy equipments to the tune of Rs 5,000 to Rs 6,000 crore annually.

India has chalked out an ambitious programme for utilising hydrogen as fuel. The hydrogen energy map had been prepared on the basis of the report submitted by a high-level committee, headed by prominent industrialist Ratan Tata, Mr Muttemwar said.

Under the project, about one million vehicles, using hydrogen as fuel, would ply on Indian roads by 2020. Hydrogen fuel could be stored and used in transport and manufacturing sectors, he added.

He said power crisis in Madhya Pradesh could be solved to a greater extent with the completion of the 4,000 MW mega project in Sidhi district with private participation.

Mr Muttemwar said biomass gassification project launched on an experimental basis in 200 villages was successful and in next few years about 25,000 villages would be benefitted by it. Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh were using rice husk as fuel in such project.

Apart from solar energy, he said, about three lakh MW energy could be produced through non-conventional sources.

Madhya Pradesh Urja Vikas Nigam Chairman Dilip Singh Shekhawat said draft of the state's policy on non-conventional energy was ready and it would soon be presented to the cabinet for approval.

UNI