SOME STATES BEGIN SHOWING SIGNS OF TURNAROUND: POWER MINISTER
The Minister of Power, Shri Suresh Prabhu said
here today that data now available shows that some states around
the country are beginning to show signs of a turnaround in the
power sector. This has been possible because of the concerted
and consistent co-ordination of efforts and co-operation between
the Ministry of Power and state governments. The Power Minister
was speaking at the Meritorious Award function for the Thermal
Power Sector Plants organized by the Central Electricity Authority
(CEA). Shri Prabhu emphasized that the end result of reforms in
the sector, would be to make the power sector commercially viable,
but the center has given the states complete freedom to decide
on how to reach there.
The CEA monitors the performance of all the thermal
power stations in the country on a daily basis and evaluates their
performance on monthly and annual basis. The gold medals for meritorious
productivity for the year 1999-2000 has been bagged by Vijaywada
Thermal Power Station, Rayalaseema Thermal Power Station and Kothagudem-V
Thermal Power Station belonging to Andhra Pradesh Generation Company
Ltd. In addition, the gold medals have also been bagged by Ramagundam
Super Thermal Power Station, Korba Super Thermal Power Station
and National Capital Thermal Power Plant (Coal), Dadri belonging
to the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), Utran Gas Power
Plant of GEB and Ib Valley Thermal Power Station of the Orissa
Power Generation Company Ltd. Vijaywada Thermal Power Station
has bagged the gold medal award for the sixth consecutive year
whereas National Capital Thermal Power Plant, Dadri has bagged
gold medal for the third consecutive year. Apart from meritorious
productivity awards, cash incentive awards were also given away
to various thermal power stations for minimum secondary fuel oil
consumption and minimum auxiliary power consumption for the year
1999 and 2000 based on performance evaluation by CEA.
The All India performance of Thermal Power Stations
in the country has reached a new high. The all India average plant
load factor (PLF) of thermal power stations, which was 69 percent
in the year 2000-2001 touched a figure of 69.9 percent in the
year 2001-02 which is very close to the target of 70%. As a result
of the concerted efforts of various power generating utilities,
the all India PLF of the thermal power stations have steadily
increased from 60% in 1994-95 to 69.9% in 2001-02.
The Minister of State for Power, Mrs. Jayawanti
Mehta who presided over the function, congratulated the various
award winning State and Central Utilities for their performance.
