BHUBANESWAR: In the face of increasing demand effected by rapid industrialisation, urbanisation and farm mechanisation, power availability in the coming years has assumed top priority for the State Government.

Punjab government is devising energy policy aimed at exploring the new resources as well as improving the existing to meet the growing demand of power. The government has decided to generate extra energy in the province under the constitution to meet the rising demand of the population. The province would set up power plants run by coal or water.

The second oil crisis of 1979 had just ended when the Government of Sri Lanka decided in 1982 to place energy efficiency and demand management as the top priority, with the energy ministry functioning directly under the President.

At the time of Independence, availability of power was confined to a few urban and industrial pockets of Haryana and its villages were engulfed in darkness. However, during the Congress regime in 1970, Haryana became the first state in the country to provide electricity to hundred per cent of its villages.

Weak prices and sagging demand could see gas supply most of Britain's electricity well into winter, sidelining coal plants and cutting Britain's carbon emissions as a welcome side effect.

Gas is usually favored for round-the-clock power generation in summer when low demand for heating keeps the fuel price low, swelling gas-fired power plant profits, known as spark spreads.

MUMBAI: Plans for a 1,000 MW power plant in Thakurli may get derailed because of differences between the partners-the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) and the Railways.

BANIHAL: Resentment is brewing among locals in Banihal against the inability of the Systems and Operations wing of Power Development Department (PDD) Kashmir to successfully commission 50 megawatt grid station at Banihal in district Ramban
PDD officials maintain that the grid station developed a serious technical snag before its scheduled date of commissioning

EVEN as the government increases focus on power generation from alternative sources, the results, due to a bad weather and fuel shortage, are not in favour. The country

KARTIKAY MEHROTRA

Despite revising its capacity targets for the second consecutive fiscal to aspire to more realistic goals in 2008-2009, the power ministry has fallen short of the cumulative benchmarks by more than 4,000 Megawatts owing to lack of supplies, manpower and commissioning of projects.