Nat Grid soon for optimum use of power gen: Shinde

New Delhi, Mar 9: Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde today said a''National Grid'' would be created soon for optimum utilisation ofgeneration capacity through inter-regional transfer of power.

Replying to a spate of questions in the Lok Sabha on powershortage in the country, he said there was an overall shortage of powerin the country. This was estimated at 70,000 Mw at present.

He listed a series of long term measures taken by the governmentto improve power supply position in the country. They include :launching of 50,000 Mw hydro initiative for coordinated development ofhydro sector, identification of sites for thermal capacity over 100,000MW, rigorous monitoring of capacity addition of the ongoing generationprojects, implementation of Ultra Mega Power projects of 4000 MW eachto achieve benefit of economy of sale and procurement of hydro-electricpower from Bhutan.

Referring to acute shortage of power in the National Caital Region(NCR) of Delhi, Mr Shinde said steps had been taken to overcome thedemand-supply gap in the light of the Commonweal Games in 2010.

Six projects -- Mejia Expansion (1000 MW), Koderma ( 2 x 500 MW),Bokaro Expansion ( 500 MW), Dadri-II expansion ( 2 x 490 MW), BadarpurExpansion ( 2 x 500 MW) and Jhajjar ( 3 x 500 MW) have been identifiedfor meeting the power requirement of NCR.

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