Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal on Wednesday said that all 25-year-old super-thermal power stations would be replaced with ultra-super high capacity critical thermal plants.
The Minister said a policy decision has been taken by the Central Government on the issue and the “owners” will have to implement it.
He said that the Government was working on a plan to have 24x7 power supply in Delhi, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh. The Narendra Modi Government has selected these three States for the implementation of a pilot project, ‘24-hour power supply,’ on an experimental basis.
Goyal, who was speaking to reporters at BJP office, said his ministry was focusing on reducing transmission and distribution (T &D) losses and improving the plant load factor of power plants. The Minister said he had learnt a lot from Gujarat’s reforms in power sector. He said the Prime Minister has instructed him to speak to all the States, even non-BJP States, to adopt the ways to reduce T & D losses.
As much as 30 per cent of the power generated in the country is lost during transmission and distribution.
In some areas, power does not reach users due to lack of transmission capacity. The States of Delhi, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh have agreed to work with the Centre to reform the transmission and distribution sector. Goyal said that the Government was “separately dealing” with the shortage of coal supply to power plants following the court decision of cancelling coal mine licences.