The Minister of State for Power Jyotiraditya M Scindia said in Rajya Sabha on March 19 that the generation target from various conventional hydro sources for the first year i.e. 2012-13 of the 12th Plan period has been fixed as 122.045 billion unit (bu). Hydro generation of 104.937 bu has been achieved against the target of 114.048 bu upto February, 2013.
The target for generation of power is fixed on year to year basis and not for Five Year Plan as a whole. To achieve higher hydro power generation, capacity addition target for hydro power has been fixed at 10,897 mw for the 12th Five Year Plan for which funding requirement of about Rs 87,176 crore has been estimated.
According to Scindia the steps initiated by the government to achieve the hydrogeneration target and capacity addition target for the 12th FiveYear Plan are: Accelerationin hydro generating capacity addition during 12th Plan with a target of 10,897MW.
Rigorous monitoring of capacity addition ofthe on-going generation projects. Advance planning of generation capacityaddition projects for 12th Plan.
Coordinated operation and maintenance of hydro, thermal, nuclear andgas based power stations to optimally utilize the existing generation capacity.
Renovation, modernization and lifeextension of old and inefficient generation units.
Strengthening of inter-state and inter-regional transmission capacity foroptimum utilization of available power.
Hydro Power Policy 2008 launched with the aimto boost hydro power development in the country.
Constitutionof a Task Force on Hydro Project Development to look into all issues relatingto development of hydropower including issues of rehabilitation andresettlement of project affected persons. Constitutionof an Inter-Ministerial Group (IMG) to evolve a suitable framework to guide andaccelerate the development of hydropower in the North-East.
Settingup of a Power Project Monitoring Panel by the Ministry of Power toindependently follow up and monitor the progress of the hydro / thermalprojects to ensure that projects are executed in time.