The Tamil Nadu government has received proposals from various industries for investments in captive power plants worth over Rs 4,100 crore.
According to state government officials, this was largely driven by manufacturing units, especially cement, in the southern parts of the state.
The captive power plants are generation units set up by an industry for its exclusive consumption, but with a provision enabling sale of any excess production to the third party customers.
According to a senior official, the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB) has received proposals for setting up an aggregate capacity of 708.5 Mw in captive power plants in the state. This figure does not include non-conventional energy.
Currently, the state has an installed capacity of 1,028 Mw in conventional captive plants. Power plants below 33 KV will be managed by newly formed TN Generation and Distribution Corporation (Gedco) and 33 KV and those above will be managed by TN Transmission Corporation (Transco).
The official said that under Gedco, 10 power plants were operating with a total capacity of 63.64 Mw and three new proposals were received for setting up 17.5 Mw-capacity.
Similarly, 28 power plants, of 33 KV and above, with an aggregate capacity of 964 Mw were operating in the state and 11 new proposals with a total capacity of 691 Mw have been received, he said.
The state currently faces power deficit of 3,000 Mw, and it costs Rs 5-6 crore to set a Mw of generation capacity.
