Srinagar, Dec 22: Believe it! Power-starved Jammu and Kashmir has been able to add just 1.26 MWs of energy to its power kitty during the 11th five year plan period against the planned 1800 MWs. On the other hand the government of India subsidiary National Hydropower Corporation (NHPC), during this period, added a whopping 510 MWs of energy to its kitty from new power projects in Jammu and Kashmir.
Pertinently, 11th five year plan began in 2007 and will be culminating March next year.
Official statistics show that JK’s energy availability from its projects set up on different river basins - Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi and Indus - and owned by the State Power Development Corporation was over 300 MWs at the beginning of 11th five year plan.
After repeated failures of the government to meet its own deadlines for commissioning of different micro and macro hydro power projects in the state sector, the timeline has been reworked and the projects are now scheduled for completion by the end of 12th five year plan (2012-17).
The delay, according to experts, results in huge cost-escalation and even in some cases by the time the projects get completed these are already unviable economically. While the major hydro-power projects in the state sector include Kirthai-I (240 MW), Parnai (37.5 MW), New Ganderbal (93 MW), Sawalakote-I and II (1200 MW) and Baghliar-II (450 MW), the small projects with a cumulative installed capacity of 3.61 MW are Pahalgam-III (1.50 MW), Machil (0.35 MW), Sanjak (1.26 MW) and Bhaderwah-III (0.50 MW). The micro-power projects were scheduled for commissioning by the end 2009-10.
“Projects worth 1724.71 MW capacity, excluding  450 MW Baghliar-I, were targeted for commissioning by the end of 11th five year plan period while another 1200 MWs were proposed to be added by the end of 2017-188,” says a government report prepared in 2008-09. An official said the thrust was on projects like New Ganderbal, Kirthai-I, Parnai, Sawalakote-I and II and Baghliar-II.
“However only 1.26 MW Sanjak (Ladakh) was commissioned in October this year. We hope the remaining micro-projects will start generation by end of 2013-14,” said a PDC official.
Apart from these projects, preliminary construction work on Kiru (600 MW), Kawar (520 MW) Pakal Dul and Ratle (690 MW), after years of delay, have been taken up this year. While the former three would come up in a joint venture between PDC, NHPC and PTC with completion target of 2017-18,  Ratle has been handed over to GVK Development Projects LTD for construction on Built, Own, Operate and Transfer (BOOT) basis, for 35 years, and is scheduled for commissioning in 2017.
For Baghliar-II officials said the deadline has been reworked to 2014-15, but it will be the herculean task for PDC given that the state government is yet to decide on finances for it. There is no word on commissioning Ganderbal, Parnai, Kirthai-I and II and the minor projects.
Though the government added up 450 MWs of additional energy to the state pool by commissioning Baghliar-I during October 2008, officials said the project, actually conceived in 1992, was first scheduled for commissioning in the 9th five year plan, later the target was revised to 10th five year plan only to be stretched to 11th five year plan.
“It was not planned for commissioning in 2011 like other projects,” said a top official.   In fact he said Baghliar-II (450 MW) which was conceived in 2002 was actually targeted for completion by the end of 10th five year plan.
The state government has been reworking the deadlines on the projects for the past more than two decades. The successive regimes have not moved beyond revisiting the DPR’s and setting up new deadlines for these projects, the official said.
In comparison to the meagre addition of 1.26 MWs energy in the state sector, JK’s peak energy demand has swelled up from 2020 MWs in 2007-08 to 2500 MWs in 2011-12 and the figures are likely to go beyond 3600 MWs by 2025, the official report reveals.
Officials said in past decade more than Rs 16653 crore have been spent by JK only on power import including over Rs 2900 crore for this fiscal.

NHPC BOLSTERS ITS POWER KITTY BY 510 MWS IN JK
In comparison to state government’s dismal achievement in energy generation sector, NHPC commissioned two projects of cumulative capacity of 510 MWs during the past five years in Jammu and Kashmir.
It commissioned Dulhasti (390 MWs) in 2007 and another project, Sewa-II (120 MWs) in 2010.
Besides, the Corporation unilaterally owns two other major projects Salal (690 MWs) and Uri-I with 480 MWs capacity in JK.
It is scheduled to make functional another two projects, Nimo Bazgo (45-MWs) and Chutak (44 MWs) by the end of this financial year, apart from taking up construction of 330 MWs-Kishanganga project in Gurez.
Out of the 5295 MWs of its existing generation capacity, NHPC is drawing the highest booty of 1680 MWs of energy from Jammu and Kashmir, while rest of the country is contributing just 3615 MWs to the Corporation’s power kitty.
While the total generation capacity of the NHPC’s new power stations throughout the country is estimated to be 4622 MWs, J&K would be again a major contributor with around 2000 MWs of energy.

Lastupdate on : Thu, 22 Dec 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Thu, 22 Dec 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Fri, 23 Dec 2011 00:00:00 IST