By Our National Affairs Bureau/PIB
NEW DELHI:Minister of State (IC) for Power, Coal, New & Renewable Energy and Mines, Piyush Goyal, in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha on Monday, informed that NHPC is scheduled to generate 4458.69 Million Units (MUs) additional power (based on design energy) from two of its present under construction hydro projects, viz., Parbati-II H.E.P (800 MW) in Himachal Pradesh, scheduled to be commissioned in October, 2018 and Kishanganga H.E.P (330 MW) in Jammu & Kashmir scheduled to be commissioned in January, 2018.
Informing about the status of progress of hydro-electric projects in the country, Shri Goyal stated that presently 41 H.E.P. (above 25 MW), aggregating to 11792.5 MW, are under construction in the country. All the above projects are running behind schedule due to various reasons including natural calamities, geological factors, delays in forest clearances & land acquisition and law & order problems, the Minister added.
Goyal informed the House about the steps taken by the Government for expeditious commissioning of pending projects, which are as follows:- Central Electricity Authority (CEA) is monitoring the under construction hydro power projects (above 25 MW) in pursuance of Section 73 (f) of Electricity Act, 2003.
The progress of each project is monitored continuously through site visits, interaction with the developers & other stake holders. Chairperson, CEA holds review meetings with the Power Projects Monitoring Panel (PPMP) and monitoring divisions of CEA.
Power Project Monitoring Panel (PPMP), set up by the Ministry of Power, independently monitors the progress of the hydro projects. Ministry of Power also reviews the progress of ongoing hydroelectric projects regularly with the concerned officers of CEA, equipment manufacturers, State Utilities / CPSUs / Project developers, etc.
In case of Central Power Sector Undertakings’ (CPSUs) projects, the project Implementation parameters / milestones are incorporated in the annual Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between respective CPSU’s and Ministry of Power (MoP) and the same are monitored during the quarterly performance review meetings of CPSU’s and other meetings held in MoP/ CEA.
The issues related to erection and supply of Electro-Mechanical equipment is expedited with BHEL in various meetings held in CEA / MoP and other local issues affecting the progress of works are taken up with respective State Governments by the Concerned CPSU / MoP.
