Vinit Wahi
New Delhi–Erratic power supply used to be order of the day in Madhya Pradesh some ten years ago. But now, it has become thing of the past, thanks to better administration and management by the state government which converted this challenging problem into an opportunity. Now domestic consumers are getting 24×7 and farm sector 10-hour power supply.
From 6027 MW in 2004-05 to 15,190 Mw in 2014-15, there has been an increase of 8000 MW in past 10 years, an achievement which assumes great significant in view of the fact that number of power consumers rose to 1.16 crore in year 2014-15 from 64.93 lakh then.
There is a target to add 1850 MW additional power capacity by this year and an investment of Rs 1100 crore is being made for construction of new power projects, renovation and strengthening of existing power generation plants.
In fact, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi had dedicated a 1200 MW Shri Sant Singaji thermal power project built at a cost of Rs 7280 crore in Khandwa district of Madhya Pradesh last year besides laying a foundation stone of a 1320 MW capacity 2nd phase of the project to be built at a cost of Rs 6500 crore.
There has been a marked improvement in power supply over the past 9-10 years, Sri Krishna Kapoor, a retired PWD engineer and resident of Vivekanand Colony,Ujjain, told this writer. And this seems to be a common refrain of many others who this write spoke to regarding power supply situation in the state during a recent visit.
Not only this, the state has immense possibilities of new and renewable power generation as an alternative source of conventional energy. As figures suggest, generation of sustainable energy at present is 3019 MW with the world’s largest 750 MW capacity ultra-mega solar power plant coming up at Gurh in Rewa district.
Madhya Pradesh stands second in the country with 450 MW wind energy projects and 205 MW solar energy projects in 2014-15 while at present 263 projects of 9188 MW are under process which include among others, 51 solar projects of 8000 MW.
As the Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan put it, all this has paved the way for development of sustainable energy as a result of which Madhya Pradesh is an important renewable energy producer state.