Bengal to add 1750 mega watt this year

West Bengal would add 1,750MW of power generation capacity this year at Bakreswar, Santaldih and Durgapur power plants, said Mrinal Banerjee, the state minister for power and non-conventional energy.

Every year, the state's power demand was rising by around 350MW, Banerjee added at the foundation stone laying ceremony of the 1000MW Durgapur Steel and Thermal Power Project being set up by Damodar Valley Corporation at Andal, near Durgapur.

Banerjee said that following completion of all pending projects, the generation capacity of DVC would be in excess of 10,000MW, and the second highest in the country.

For all these projects, about 250 million gallons of water would be needed and so DVC had to focus on optimum utilisation of available water resources.

Banerjee asked Union power minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, present at the event, to allocate power generated at the Andal project, to West Bengal.