Total power generation including that from Bhutan joint venture increased by 7.6 per cent to 75.5 billion kwh (Gwh) during March 2011, against 6.8 per cent in February and 9.3 per cent in January. Total generation during FY11 was placed at 811 billion kwh, 5.5 per cent higher than in FY10.

Power generation had increased by 6.8 per cent in 2009-10, 2.5 per cent in 2008-09 and 6.3 per cent in 2007-08. Thermal power, which constitutes over three-fourths of electricity generation, was up 3.8 per cent. Four-fifths of generation was based on coal as fuel, 14 per cent on gas, around 4 cent on lignite, and 2 per cent on liquid fuel, etc. Thermal power stations lost around 14 billion kwh due to coal shortage and poor fuel quality. Loss of generation due to backing down of stations due to low schedule from beneficiary states was reported as 7 billion kwh by the generating utilities, according to data released by Central Electricity Authority. Capacity utilization in thermal power plants, as measured by plant load factor, dropped from 77.7 per cent to 75.1 per cent in FY11.

At 26.3 billion kwh, generation from nuclear power stations was more than the target for the year and registered a growth rate of 41 per cent over the last year. The average PLF of nuclear plants increased from 51.1 per cent to 65.5 per cent. Much of this improvement came about due to higher availability of uranium during the year.

Generation from hydropower stations improved considerably on account of good monsoon. Energy generation was 114 billion kwh, registering a growth of 10 per cent over the year. Barring the southern region that recorded only 1.7 per cent increase, all other regions experienced good growth in generation. The Indo- Bhutan JV Tala hydropower project supplied 5.6 billion kwh, up 4.7 per cent from FY10.

POWER DEFICIT
The average deficit worked out provisionally to 7.5 per cent in March, easing from 7.8 per cent in February, 8.2 per cent in December and double digits in the first five months of FY11. Average deficit over the financial year worked out to 8.5 per cent—the situation improving from a 11.7 per cent deficit in FY10 and 10.9 per cent in FY09. In fact, after running higher till August, relative to year ago levels, power deficit has tended to be less severe than year-ago levels in the subsequent seven months. Cumulative peak demand level deficit worked out to 10.3 per cent, against 13.3 per cent in earlier year.

POWER GENERATION: 2010-11
	Generation (Gwh)		Achievement (%)	y-o-y
	Planned	Actual		% chg
Thermal	690.857	664.914	96.2	3.8
Nuclear	22.000	26.285	119.5	41.0
Hydro	111.352	114.296	102.6	10.0
Bhutan Import	6.548	5.610	85.7	4.7
Total	830.757	811.104	97.6	5.6
Source for basic data: CEA

Among the regions, the western region, which accounts for one-third of the power country needs, faced 14.7 per cent deficit over the year, much higher than the average for the country. Northern region faced 8.9 per cent deficit and eastern region 9.9 per cent. Southern region faced much lower deficit of around 6.3 per cent.

Among the states, Maharashtra, the biggest power consumer state, faced 18 per cent power deficit in FY11. Andhra Pradesh faced 5.1 per cent deficit while the corresponding metrics for Gujarat and Karnataka were 7.8 per cent and 8.3 per cent, respectively.