12.8 GW of thermal projects awarded in first 100 days of NDA 3.0, says government

New Delhi: A total of 12.8 GW of thermal power capacity has been awarded during the first 100 days of the new National Democratic Alliance (NDA), according to Pankaj Agarwal, secretary to the union ministry of power.

Another 28.4 GW of the targeted additional capacity of 80 GW to be installed by FY32 is under construction, he said. "28,400 MW is already under construction. Another 12,800 MW of contracts have been assigned in these 100 days, and will go into construction very quickly," he added.

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The renewed focus on adding coal-based power generation capacity comes in the backdrop of record high power demand over the past three years and because thermal power provides basedload power and maintains stability in the grid.

Green power isn't up to speed yet

Addressing the media on the performance of the government in its first 100 days, union minister for power and housing & urban affairs Manohar Lal Khattar said there is a need to continue installing new thermal capacities as the supply of green power is not in line with demand.

"Until the supply of renewable energy matches demand, it seems necessary to increase the capacity of thermal plants in the country and reduce their installation gradually. But until 2030-35, we have to take [thermal projects] ahead," the power minister said.

He also said the National Electricity Plan 2023-32 would be launched in next 15 days. Noting that peak demand is expected to touch 425 GW by 2030 and 458 GW by 2032, he said that under the new plan, the transmission network will have to be extended to 6.48 lakh circuit kilometres (ckm) by 2032 from 4.85 lakh ckm in 2024.

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He said the government would also increase transformer capacity to to 2342 gigavolt-ampere (GVA) from 1251 GVA, adding that the overall capex for expansion and upgradation would be ₹9.15 trillion.

The minister also said 50 GW of inter-state transmission system (ISTS) capacity has been approved in the past 100 days. The transmission network of 335 GW is planned to evacuate 280 GW of variable renewable energy to the ISTS by 2030.

Of this, 42 GW has been completed, 85 GW is under construction, and 75 GW is under bidding, the minister said, adding that the remaining 82 GW will be approved in due course. Transmission schemes corresponding to 50.9 GW of capacity with an estimated cost of ₹60,676 crore have been approved during the first 100 days, he added.

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