The Tamil Nadu government has urged the Centre to allocate 75 per cent of the power produced by the upcoming power stations at Vallur, near Chennai, and Tuticorin to help address the power shortage in state.
While the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB) along with NTPC is setting up a 1,500 Mw plant at Vallur, TNEB-Neyveli Lignite Corporation is setting up a 1,000 Mw plant at Tuticorin.
State electricity minister Arcot N Veeraswami, at the Power Ministers Conference in New Delhi, said as against the targeted 5,055 Mw under the 11th Five Year Plan, the state could add only 144 Mw in the last two years. The remaining 4,908 Mw would be added according to schedule.
The minister cited lack of skilled manpower and equipment supplies as major bottlenecks.
According to him, the Kudangulam atomic power station being set up by Nuclear Power Corporation and the 500 Mw Neyveli Thermal Power Station II are expected to start generation by June 2010.
The state government, the minister said, had given its approval for setting up three thermal power stations of 3,400 Mw capacity. However, the coal ministry was yet to approve the proposal for long-term coal linkage for these projects.
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About 14 million tonnes of coal has been allocated for running various thermal stations in Tamil Nadu and this is being transported through the sea-cum-rail route. However, under a recent amendment to the Finance Act 2009, coal handling charges have been increased. “If the Union government exempts levy of service tax on the coastal movement of thermal coal, we will be able to keep the generation cost within limits,” he said.
On the new initiatives, he said, the state government had initiated steps for tapping solar energy of 20 Mw capacity at Udangudi in Tuticorin district. Besides, the government is considering feeding the surplus solar power into the low tension network.
The government had planned to electrify all the 524,000 below poverty line households by December 2009 with an outlay of Rs 447.41 crore under the Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana. Of this, about 340,000 households have already received connections.