NEW DELHI: The 980 MW coal-based power generating unit at Dadri in Uttar Pradesh can serve as a model for environmental management and as a template for other power plants in the country, Union Minister of State for Commerce and Power Jairam Ramesh has said.

Hydro power generation of the State has marginally improved with water level in majority reservoirs slowly increasing following low pressure induced torrential rains in the upper catchment areas during the last couple of days.

The live storage capacity of seven reservoirs having hydro power stations is marginally above the minimum draw down level (MDDL) since May. This forced the Orissa Hydro Power Corporation (OHPC) to step down power generation.

Gridco has been procuring high cost thermal power from the eastern grid from the last week of May to meet the peak demand of the State.

BHUBANESWAR: The Centre is pursuing the State Government to adopt super critical technology developed by Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) for generation of low cost thermal power with lesser impact on environment.

Tamil Nadu has already signed an agreement with BHEL for supply of the new generation technology for putting up a thermal power plant.

Union Heavy Industries Secretary Satyanarayan Das called on Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik here on monday to discuss the new technology.

WE HAVE got to face up to the fact that India as a whole is in the midst of a serious energy deficit. Insufficient power could well turn out to be the Achilles heel of this country's dream of making rapid economic strides to fight poverty and to remain lodged on a relatively high growth trajectory. It is instructive to note that in spite of the economic reforms of 1991, the power industry has not been able to attract the expected level of private investment, domestic or foreign.

BHILWARA Energy Ltd and the Madhya Pradesh government have signed an MoU for setting up a 1,500 mw coal-based thermal power plant in the state with an investment of Rs 7,500 crore. The LNJ Bhilwara has earlier set up captive coal-based power plants for its own group companies. It is also setting up hydroelectrical power generation capacities of over 3,000 mw. The group also commissioned its first captive hydro power plant at Tawa, a 13.5 mw unit located in Madhya Pradesh in 1997 to feed its Graphite Electrodes production facilities.

Sujay Mehdudia

NEW DELHI: The matter of commissioning of power projects has assumed "serious dimensions' as an internal study done by the Ministry of Power has revealed that out of the 6620 MW of coal-based capacity projects that were officially declared as "commissioned' during 2007-08, nearly 58 per cent of them are still not producing even a single unit of energy making a mockery of the whole process.

with the first spell of monsoon in mid-June people in Bargarh, Nuapada, Kalahandi and Sambalpur districts in Orissa experienced something they had never seen before: a grayish layer on leaves, vehicles and elsewhere.

Hyderabad,July 29: The Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy, on Tuesday said more thermal power units will be set up in the state to tide over the power crisis. Dr Reddy sent a letter to the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, requesting him to ask the coal ministry to consider the proposals of Andhra Pradesh Mineral Development Corporation for allocation of coal blocks in the state. This includes the Thadicherla Coal Block No II spread over Karimnagar and Warangal for faster development. The corporation had applied for this coal block in 2005, he said.

The Rajiv Gandhi Thermal Power Plant at Khedar in Hisar is progressing well, said Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, while inaugurating a 33 KV sub-station in Sector 10 in Rewari.