Union Power and Coal Minister Piyush Goyal on Sunday said the government has asked Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) to find a design to modify the power plants, running on imported coal, set up in the past.
"We have to find solution to change all the imported coal based power plants. I am telling BHEL to find a design to modify the imported coal based power plants that were set up in the past," he said, noting that there was perpetual shortage of coal in the past.
"The country and the Planning Commission, instead of finding a solution to the shortage and increase the domestic coal production, did design plants based on imported coal.The country gave business to foreign countries to sell coal to India," he said at the sidelines of the 115 th annual general meeting of MCC Chamber of Commerce.
He also said that the Narendra Modi government has been trying to increase domestic coal production and to replace the imported coal by domestic coal.
Criticising the Planning Commission's work in the power sector, the Minister said the sector was "not planned appropriately".
"Planning Commission work was inadequate and inappropriate. Today, we have landed up in a situation that we have surplus capacity in power generation. The Commission had never got their job right," he said.
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Goyal said that states should be empowered to make their own plans. In the NDA government regime, the centre "would not direct states for investments in the power sector".
"It is an economical decision that the states, private players and central PSUs will take based on their assessment of demand and supply," he said.
Emphasising on renewable energy, he said the renewable energy, in the long run, would always be preferred source. The green power would be "available at an attractive price in the futurea and price of other sources of energy would go up.
"By 2030, 40 per cent of country's installed capacity will be from renewable sources - wind, solar and hydel. It will also help the country in reducing carbon dioxide emissions for which India is committed to," he said.
--IANS
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