National Grid soon for optimum use of power generation: Shinde

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

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

He listed a series of long term measures taken by the government to improve power supply position in the country. They include : launching of 50,000 Mw hydro initiative for coordinated development of hydro sector, identification of sites for thermal capacity over 100,000 MW, rigorous monitoring of capacity addition of the ongoing generation projects, implementation of Ultra Mega Power projects of 4000 MW each to achieve benefit of economy of sale and procurement of hydro-electric power 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 the demand-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), Badarpur Expansion ( 2 x 500 MW) and Jhajjar ( 3 x 500 MW) have been identified for meeting the power requirement of NCR.

UNI