Nitish to announce power plans today

Joint venture with NTPC to revive Kanti plant; substations to improve rural supply

PATNA, MAY 28:A joint venture between the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) and the Bihar State Electricity Board (BSEB) to revive the Kanti Thermal Power Plant (KTPP) in Muzaffarpur is among a host of announcements to be made by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in Patna on Monday.
Among other measures to tackle the huge power shortfall is the Centre’s nod for power substations in each of the 534 blocks of Bihar, which would mean a giant leap in its rural electrification status. The Union Power Ministry has given the nod for this in a recent meeting in Delhi.
As per the NTPC-BSEB agreement, it will revive two units of the Kanti plant to generate around 240 MW through a joint venture company, Vaishali Power Trading Corporation.
There is also a proposal for another 500-MW plant to be set up by NTPC on the 1,000 acre leased to it by the government. NTPC would have nearly 75 per cent of the stakes and BSEB just over 25 per cent.
According to the MoU between the two parties, NTPC was to have 51 per cent and the BSEB the rest. But the NTPC share was increased after it cleared a Rs 57-crore debt on the plant to the LIC. The debt was also a reason for its revival, scheduled in February, being delayed.
Union Power Minister Sushilkumar Shinde and officials of the NTPC, Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) and Power Grid Corporation would be present when Kumar makes the announcement, sources said.
In spite of abundant resources, availability of electricity in rural areas has been dismal. The cash-strapped state had so far been unable to set up the substations to meet the Centre’s directive to ensure that every village gets electricity by 2007. At present, 90 per cent of village households in Bihar have no electricity.
The Nitish government has also opened the doors for private participation by inviting bids for four thermal power plants at Nabinagar (2000 MW) in Aurangabad, Pirpainti (2000 MW) in Bhagalpur, Kursela and Katihar (500MW). Fifteen companies, including Reliance Energy and Nav Ferro Alloys have come up with proposals, sources said, adding that the government had appointed four consultants to present a report on the proposals. The power scenario had gone from bad to worse after the creation of Jharkhand, as Bihar was left with only two thermal generation units, Kanti and Barauni.
The Kanti plant stopped generation two years back, and Barauni plant too followed suit. Both are expected to restart by next year.
The state is going ahead with the plan of generating around 3,000 MW by 2009, banking on the NTPC plant at Barh in Patna likely to start generating 2,000 MW by 2008-end. But experts believe even this would not make up for the generation-demand gap.
This has forced the government to think about tapping other energy sources. ‘‘Apart from thermal and hydro power, we are exploring wind, gas-based and multi-fuel plants,’’ said the Bihar power minister. Further, the minister said that they will reach an agreement with all the investors that they will be only allowed to sell power after meeting the demand of the state.
According to the power vision document prepared by the state, if all the proposed projects are completed by 2012, the generation, added to other sources will yield 7101 MW.
But even this would fall short of the projected requirement of 11,500 MW during peak hours and 9,000 MW during off peak hours.
By 2020 the deficit is projected to increase and would require an additional installed capacity of 10,750 MW and a whopping Rs 43,000 crore by present estimates to meet the demand.

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RANJAN RITURAJ SINH