BHUBANESWAR: The State Government on Thursday claimed to have achieved self-sufficiency in power generation despite the fact that it is getting 400 MW through power banking from Punjab and Delhi to meet the shortfall during summer. "Power generated from the State is adequate to meet the present demand and the Government is confident to meet the additional demand of 2000 MW by 2019, the deadline for completion of rural electrification programme," Minister of State for Energy Pranab Prakash Das told the Assembly. Responding to the debate on the demand for grants of Energy Department for the current fiscal, Das said the projected power demand of the State in 2019-20 is 5700 MW. The additional demand could be easily met from Odisha Power Generation Corporation's (OPGC's) Ib Thermal Power Station which is adding two more units of 660 MW each and the Independent Power Projects (IPPs) under execution.
Four more IPPs including Ind Barath, Monnet Energy and Maa Durga are expected to be commissioned in the current fiscal and the State's share from these IPPs will be about 500 MW. The expansion projects (3rd and 4th units) of OPGC are scheduled to be commissioned in 2017-18 and the entire power from these two units will be available to the State, he said. The State Government has been putting pressure on the Centre to expedite implementation of the proposed 4000 MW (5X800 MW) Ultra Mega Power Project (UMPP) at Bedabahal. The States's share from the UMPP is 1300 MW. Besides, the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) is setting up of a 2X800 MW coal fired power plant at Darlipali in Sundargarh district which is expected to be commissioned by 2018-19.
Stating that the State Government has taken up several minihydel projects, the Minister said efforts are on to create potential for generation of additional 250 MW of hydro-power. Initiating the debate, Anshuman Mohanty of Congress thanked the State Government for keeping the power tariff unchanged. He, however, slammed the Government for allowing a private companies like Reliance Infrastructure Limited to loot the State. Alleging that about `30,000 crore have been looted from Odisha during the last 16 years of the BJD Government, Mohanty said the transmission and distribution loss of the State is still 42 per cent while the national average is about 20 per cent. The consumers have to pay more tariff due to inefficiency of the Government in managing the power sector, he said and sought to know why the Government is not initiating any action against the industries which have defaulted in their power bill payment to the tune of `3000 crore. Pradip Purohit of the BJP criticised the Government for the low voltage and unscheduled frequent power cuts.