Centre to allocate 100 mw per day to Tamil Nadu

By Divya Rajagopal, CNBC-TV18

There seems to be a silver lining in the power situation in Tamil Nadu at least for the time being. Tamil Nadu has some good news at least for some time. The Centre has agreed to allocate 100 mw per day for the next month. It has also decided to sanction two power projects of 8,400 mw for the state.

M Karunanidhi, Chief Minister, Tamil Nadu, said, "During my visit to Delhi, the Centre has agreed to commission two UMPP projects in Tamil Nadu worth Rs 32,000 crore." But these measures may not be enough to tackle the power crisis looming over the state.  Tamil Nadu has an existing capacity of close to 8,500mw well short of the demand of 9,000-9,500mw. 

The state expects an additional capacity of 3,800 megawatts from new projects. The Koondanakulam Atomic Power Plant is also expected to provide some relief to the state. But all of these are in the pipeline and will take at least three years to get completed. Tamil Nadu has traditionally been a power surplus state. It is only in the past year that the state has been reeling under the power crisis and it may just get worse since the Tamil Nadu government has attracted several companies in the past year after promising uninterrupted power supply.