30,000 Mw More Capacity Of Thermal Power Added During Last 20 Months: Goyal
28 January, Kolkata
Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal today said 30,000 megawatt more capacity of Thermal Power has been added during last 20 months of the present government.
Addressing an interactive session organised by the Indian Chamber of Commerce here, Goyal said Power being the most important ingredient of infrastructure for nations development, the government is laying utmost emphasis on this sector.
He informed that his ministry has achieved 60 per cent working capacity of power plants and has a target of 90 per cent working capacity which will be achieved in near future.
Asserting that Indias Coal production has increased substantially by 9.6 per cent which has resulted in remarkable reduction in our coal imports, the minister said, his ministry is now emphasising on creating more marketing facilities for coal.
Goyal said more than 5 crore 36 lakh LED bulbs have been given out at government subsidized rates due to which the rate per bulb has come down from Rs 310 to Rs 64 and within a short time it will come down further to make it affordable for common man.
He said this has resulted in 1600 MW reduction in power consumption and said that by March next 10 crores of LED bulbs will be given out. This will result in a huge reduction in power consumption and drastic cut in pollution.
Regarding transmission, the minister said, during the present government 22,000 circuit Kms of transmission line has been drawn which is a record. During the last 18 months, 71 per cent of additional transmission capacity has been created and by 2019 it will reach 200 per cent.
Saying that in power sector, a well-co-ordinated and harmonized approach is the need of the hour to integrate thermal — both Coal and Gas hydel, solar, wind and other renewable power sources which are eco-friendly as well as nuclear, the minister assured that the government is relentlessly working in this direction. The minister said that his dream, and effort is to provide uninterrupted 24 x 7 power at affordable cost.
On the Coal sector, Goyel said, open, transparent and competitive auction of Coal mines has not only brought much more revenue to the state exchequer but has also increased the coal production also.
Among others Anil Razdan the former Secretary of Power also addressed the session