The Union ministry for power has set a target to raise the plant load factor (PLF) of all thermal power stations to an average of 70 per cent by the year 2002, from the present level of 60-62 per cent.
The ministry would also like the state sector power stations to raise their PLF to at least over 60 per cent, if they cannot achieve 70 per cent.
This forms part of the common minimum national action plan for power.
The ministry has drawn up detailed guidelines for improvement of power stations. Those with a PLF of below 40 per cent will be expected to increase it by three per cent every year. The improvement will have to be at the annual rate of 2 per cent for stations with PLF between 40 per cent and 50 per cent.
The Centre has promised to ask the Power Finance Corporation and the financial institutions to give a high priority to funding of renovation and modernisation of old and ailing power stations. The clearance of such renovation and modernisation projects will be taken out of the ambit of the Central Electricity Authority and the state governments will be empowered to give the clearance.
The power ministry has also requested state governments to allocate more funds to ongoing power projects to ensure their early completion.
The Centre will delegate a host of powers to state governments for issuing various statutory clearances. The states will now be competent to issue forest and environmental clearances for most power projects. Statutory amendments will be made in central statutes to enable greater state initiative.
The ministry of environment & forests has proposed that the power to clear the following be delegated to the states:
All co-generation plants and captive power plants up to 250 mw,
Coal-based power plants up to 500 mw using the fluidized bed technology, subject to sensitive area restrictions,
Power stations up to 250 mw on conventional technology, and
Gas- and naphtha-based power stations up to 500 mw.
The Centre has also promised to minimise the role of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board in scrutinising foreign investment proposals in the power sector. It will try to put as many projects on the automatic clearance list as feasible.
The Union government has also asked state governments to introduce time-of-the-day meters for all big consumers for better load management. These meters can register the energy consumption separately at different times of the day so that different rates of tariff can be charged.
Compulsory energy audits will have to be introduced for all consumers with a load of 100 kva and above.
The power ministry has promised to review constantly the private and public investments in the North-East so that the seven states in this region get equitable shares of the investment in the power sector.
