State faces power crisis

PATNA: Bihar is facing a deficit of 400 to 500 MW of power and the situation is likely to worsen in coming days if adequate provisioning for
additional power is not made.

Augmenting its generation capacity is thus an overwhelming priority for the state to meet existing shortfall as well as demand growth in future.

After the bifurcation of the state in 2000, the installed capacity of Bihar has declined to 584 MW. That apart, generation plants left with Bihar are old and inoperational with energy outputs less than one-tenth of the maximum possible from plants of equivalent installed capacity, said an official.

As a result, the state meets most of its power requirements from its share in the Central sector's power generating stations. A couple of thermal power projects are coming up in the state in the Central sector.

The Bihar government has initiated steps to renovate thermal units which remained in Bihar after the state's division. Simultaneous efforts have been initiated for creating additional capacities through the hydel sector.

The Bihar Hydel power Corporation (BHPC) has been focusing on setting up small hydro power projects by utilizing heads available on falls of canal systems in the State. "As on date we have nine generating units with a total capacity of 51.1 MW," said BHPC MD L P Sinha.

BHPC recently started generating three MW of power from Triveni hydel project near Valmikinagar in West Champaran district.

Source : Times of India