The lights are going out in Uttar Pradesh’s power capacity addition plan and the villain is once again land acquisition. Bajaj Hindusthan has decided to pull out of the R10,000-crore, 1,980 MW Bargad power project planned in Chitrakoot district, following the recent exit of Jaypee Group from the R7,000-crore, 1,320 MW Karchhana project.

The company had signed the memorandum of understanding with the Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation in December 2010, but not even 10 out of the required 13,000 acres have been acquired so far, sources told FE.

With the conventional energy projects unable to address the power crisis, 2012 saw the emergence of renewable energy in a big way. The state government announced a new solar policy with a target to set up 3,000 Mw of solar power in three years.

Severe power shortage made chief minister J Jayalalithaa write several letters to the Prime Minister seeking Centre's support to address the issue and also for speedy clearance of projects.

Take less than 2 mt of the 30 mt offered by CIL

Even as power companies have been complaining about a severe fuel shortage, they have failed to lift the extra coal offered to them by Coal India Ltd (CIL) from its stocks as emergency relief on the government’s instruction. Experts say the companies could be using the inflated perception of coal shortage to create grounds for price pooling, to source imported coal at cheaper rates.

In a deft move which could put an already beleaguered Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the defensive, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa has demanded the entire 2830 MW power generated by Cen

She also wants entire power from Kudankulam project to be dedicated to Tamil Nadu

Foreseeing a worsening of power crisis, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Tuesday wrote to the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh seeking allocation of 2,830 MW of power from Central generating stations to the State as an interim arrangement and dedicate the entire power from the Kudankulam nuclear power project to Tamil Nadu. In her letter to Dr. Manmohan Singh, Ms. Jayalalithaa said the State was going through a severe power crisis of a magnitude unprecedented in recent memory. While the demand was about 12,000 MW, supply was only about 8,000 MW, leaving a gap of 4,000 MW.

CM Mamata Banerjee's emphasis on rigid land policy has pleased farming community, not industry

After a historical victory on the plank of Maa-Maati-Manush (mother-land-people), the Trinamool Congress government grappled with major economic issues during the year, which experts say, would warrant dramatic reversal of policies on issues such as land acquisition. It is felt the Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's emphasis on a rigid land policy has pleased the farming community but not the industry.

With the Centre citing transmission constraints, Tamil Nadu on Tuesday demanded that the entire power generated by Central generating stations totalling 2,830 MW in the state be allocated to it as an interim measure to tide over the power crisis.

Facing a power deficit of 4,000 MW by Tamil Nadu, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa shot off a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh saying she had been requesting for additional allocation but “to our disappointment”, the Centre’s response has been “totally negative.”

National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), the country’s biggest power generation utility, is expected to offer consultancy support to state owned Odisha Thermal Power Corporation Ltd (OTPCL) for its 2,400 MW coal-fired power plant.

Since OTPCL, a 50:50 joint venture between Odisha Mining Corporation and Odisha Hydro Power Corporation (OHPC), is inexperienced in executing thermal power project, top state officials had requested NTPC to provide technical consultancy to the state PSU.

For the past 29 months, the court case between NTPC and Reliance Industries (RIL) on two gas-based power plants in Gujarat has not come for hearing at the high court here.

NTPC took RIL to court in December 2005, after the latter would not sign a gas sale and purchase agreement (GSPA) because of a dispute over a clause relating to unlimited liability. It contends expansion of its Kawas and Gandhar olants have been delayed indefinitely, thanks to RIL.