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Vinod Mathew

DAMAN, Oct. 8

THE Tenth Plan would witness a refocus on the hydel energy sector wherein 40 per cent of the total 41,000 MW power earmarked as fresh generation capacity would come from this sector alone. Out of this, the private sector participation would be limited to only 8,000 MW, which is roughly 20 per cent of the total capacity, said Ms Jayawanti Mehta, Union Minister of State for Power.

Addressing the media here on Tuesday, Ms Mehta said the share of hydel power had currently slipped to 24 per cent of the total generated power in the country. The effort was to bring it on par with thermal energy by the end of the Plan period. The Government would look to cash rich PSUs such as the National Hydro Power Corporation and the National Thermal Power Corporation to make hefty investments towards meeting the 15,000 MW target for the hydel power sector, she said.

Responding to a question regarding lack of clarity on the part of the Government regarding a comprehensive energy policy vis-a-vis fuel sources such as LNG, Ms Mehta said these would have to wait as the country needed to first tap those sectors where it had abundant resources. The Minister did not have much to say about the imported fuels in which many MNCs are currently sinking significant capital in various parts of the country.

``To that extent, the priority during the 10th Plan period would be to tap domestic fuel before considering the imported route. On the one hand, much stress is being laid on micro mini hydel power plants while on the other, the non-conventional energy sources such as wind, solar, bio-mass etc is slated to account for 5,500 MW,'' Ms Mehta said.

Earlier, Mr Rajeev Pratap Rudy, the Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, took a dig at all those who were standing in the way of industrial reforms. However, he refused to name any of his colleagues in his broadside, saying it was only a minor pause in the move forward. The Indian business could never be cost-effective and globally competitive yet be allowed no freedom to rationalise its workforce, he said.

``We want to build a mandate to push the labour reforms process which has been held up as many want to curry favour with about two million inefficient workers in PSUs as against the total labour force in the country which is 355 million strong. All this furore over disinvestment pertains to some white elephants we have built over the last 40 years at an aggregate cost of Rs 2,74,000 crore. And the last 10 years has seen an erosion of Rs 10,000 crore merely to sustain these unviable giants,'' Mr Rudy said.

The two Ministers had come to Daman to flag off the rotor blades of two 1.25 MW wind energy units from Suzlon Energy Ltd to North Dakota, US, each unit costing $0.7 million.

The Pune-based wind energy company, headed by Mr Tulsi Tanti, has entered into a turnkey project arrangement with a US company for the export of a 12.5 MW power plant. Suzlon, which has already set up two wind parks of 250 MW and 60 MW each in Maharashtra at Vankusawade and Kavdya Donga respectively, has now set its eyes on its own wind farm in Texas as also joint ventures in China, Australia and New Zealand.

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