Govt awards 12.8 GW of new thermal capacity in first 100 days: Power Ministry

Thermal power plants

The Union government awarded 12.8 gigawatts (GW) of new thermal capacity in the first 100 days of the new government, said Power Secretary Pankaj Agarwal on September 23.

“Under the 100-day plan, 12.8 GW of new capacity has been awarded for construction. While we are committed to overall add about 80,000 MW, of which 28,400 MW is already under construction,” said Agarwal.

Addressing a press conference, Minister of Power Manohar Lal Khattar enlisted the achievements of the government in the power sector in the first 100 days of the new government.

Khattar said National Electricity Plan 2023 to 2032 for central and state transmission systems has been finalised and is aimed at meeting a peak demand of 458 GW by 2032. The total cost of the plan, which would help in meeting the increasing electricity demand and facilitate RE integration and green hydrogen loads into the grid, is set to be Rs 9.15 lakh crore, he added.

The power minister said that India has a Pumped Storage Project (PSP) potential of more than 184 GW.

“We have planned to add 39 GW of PSP capacity by 2030 to address storage and grid stability needs, he added. Presently, 4.7 GW has been installed. Around 6.47 GW capacity is under construction, 60 GW is under various stages of survey and investigation. Contracts for additional 3.77 GW of PSP have now been awarded,” said Khattar.

The minister said the government plans to expand transmission network in the country from 4.85 lakh ckm (circuit kilometres) in 2024 to 6.48 lakh ckm in 2032. During the same period the transformation capacity will increase from 1,251 GVA to 2,342 GVA, he added.

Khattar said that 50 GW Inter State Transmission System (ISTS) capacity has been approved. “The transmission network of 335 GW is planned to evacuate 280 GW of Variable Renewable Energy (VRE) to the Inter-State Transmission System (ISTS) by 2030,” he said.

The minister informed that out of this, 42 GW has already been completed, 85 GW is under construction, and 75 GW is under bidding, while the balance 82 GW will be approved in due course.

He said transmission schemes corresponding to 50.9 GW capacity have been approved during the 100 days, with the total estimated cost of Rs 60,676 crore.