Power Secretary P. Uma Shankar
has estimated a total investment
of about
13 trillion in the power
sector during the ensuing XII Five Year
Plan period (2012-17). Speaking at a
recent event in the capital to kick-start
Elecrama 2012, the secretary stated that
if the country has to achieve 8 to 9 per
cent GDP growth, the power sector will
have to grow faster. He informed that
the government is in the middle of
formulating the XII Plan and subgroups
have been set up for various segments of
the power sector.
Uma Shankar informed that
government is estimating about 75,000
mw of capacity addition in the XII Plan.
He also mentioned that the sector has
done fairly well in the going XI Plan
period with an average capacity
addition of 10,000 mw per year in last
three years. Further, 17,000 mw is
expected to be added in FY12, with
4,000 mw already achieved.
Apart from investments in generation
side, the secretary observed that huge
investments would be made in the
power T&D sector in the XII Plan
period. He informed that augmentation
of transmission infrastructure in the
220kV and above classes has performed
well, and in the XII Plan period, the
government is looking at 90,000 ckm
lines of 220kV and above and substation
capacity of 1,50,000 MVA. In the
distribution sector about 15 lakh ckm of
lines are expected to be added.
Giving an overview of the estimated
expenditure, the secretary informed
that the total expenditure in all these
sectors is estimated to be about
13
trillion, with about
6.5 crore in
generation sector,
2.5 trillion in
transmission and around
4 trillion in
distribution sector.
Among these segments, the
secretary expressed concern for the
distribution side. He mentioned that
the sector needs to be ramped up so
that the financial health of distribution
utilities improves and losses are
brought down. He informed that the
ministry has been taking up the issue at
various occasions and had also had a
meeting with the state power
ministers earlier this month to discuss
the issue. He said that based on AT&C
losses reported from various cities, the
ministry has prioritized some cities for
immediate corrective action.
The secretary stated that the main
motive behind unbundling of state
electricity boards was that the
utilities function as corporate entity.
The distribution sector has to do well
to ensure that the investment in other
segments is successful, he asserted.