NEW DELHI: The Power Ministry has set a target of generating 9,20,000 million units of electricity this year, of which over 1,50,000 million units would come from the private sector alone, says a Central Electricity Authority report.
Even as the sector grapples with acute fuel shortages, the power sector planning body in its report has set a goal of adding over 7,60,000 million units of coal-based power during 2012-13.
The government also plans to harness the hydro power potential of the country by adding over 1,22,000 million units of hydel power during the same period, of which nearly 60,000 million units would come from the northern part of the country, the report said.
And it would also import over 5,000 million units of hydro power from Bhutan to bridge the shortfall, it said.
Though the nuclear power plants in the country are running at half a capacity due to scarcity of the fuel, the government aims to add over 32,000 million units from atomic power generation, during the year.
However, there was no mention of gas-based power generation in the report as the government has directed power companies to shelve their plans of setting up any gas-based projects due to shortage of the fuel.
The private power utilities in the western part of the country are expected to contribute over 78,000 million units in terms of power generation during the period, which includes production from all sources.
There is likely to be no private sector contribution towards power generation from the north-eastern states.
Megawatt (MW) is a unit of power and million unit (MU) is a unit of energy. 500 MW running for 24 hours gives 12 MUs of energy.
The Power Ministry is likely to add 76,000 MW of power in the 12th Five Year Plan Period (2012-17). However, the target is yet to be approved by the Planning Commission.