Close on the heels of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh assuring full support to the Power Industry in his meeting with 18 CEOs, the Power Secretary P Uma Shankar, announced slew of initiatives including 100% metering and providing interest subsidized finance to Discoms through National Electricity Fund (NEF).

Mr Uma Shankar was speaking in Mumbai at the Utility Day seminar organised by ELECRAMA and stressed the need of addressing the retail side of Power industry along with supply side (Coal). He said: "One of the critical issues is metering every single Urban consumer. On the other hand, it is equally critical to provide interest subsidy to Discoms and towards this end the government has promulgated NEF. We are expecting that Discoms will avail Rs 25000 crore in the first two years of launch."

Welcoming the dignitaries and delegates Mrs Indra Prem Menon, Chairperson, ELECRAMA, said: "Utility Day is one of the most important events at ELECRAMA considering that the common man is directly linked to Discoms. At Utility Day, the Discoms have the rare opportunity to interact with government and various ministries. Besides, this is the forum where public and private utilities exchange best practices, knowledge and accomplishments."

Ramesh Chandak, President, IEEMA - Indian Electrical & Electronics Manufacturers' Association, the apex association of manufacturers of electrical, industrial electronics and allied equipment in India, in his address said that "The theme Innovations For Future Of Distribution Grids will help find solutions for on-ground issues in power distribution. This event has turned up to be an excellent platform for Indian players to learn global practices and initiatives."

Mr Devender Singh, Jt Secretary (Distribution), Ministry of Power, said: "For the revival of T&D sector, we will shortly launch smart grid pilots all across the country. These Grids will be scalable and replicable in any markets in the future. The power ministry has also launched Smart Grid Forums and Smart Grid Task Force to aid the T&D segment."

Mr Uma Shankar shared nuggets of information pertaining to the 12th Plan Working Group: "The 12th Plan working Group has estimated huge requirements of adding new lines and substations under distribution. In the 12th Plan, the projections indicate an addition of about 76,000 MW. The other important features of the capacity addition in the 12th Plan is that 56% of the capacity will be in the private sector and 40% of the thermal capacity will be based on supercritical technology. The complexion of Power Sector in the coming future will be entirely different from what it is today."

As for transmission, Mr Uma Shankar said that during the last 5 years we have almost fulfilled our dream of having 'One nation, One Grid'. Commensurate with generation capacity addition plans, transmission and distribution has also been planned to facilitate power reaching the ultimate consumer. He said that total investments expected in generation segment alone will be in excess of Rs 6 lakh crore.

The construction of transmission lines of 220 kV and above is likely to exceed our target of 69000 ckm. Sub-station capacity addition would be slightly less than what has been targeted. For the 12th FYP, we are planning an inter-regional transmission capacity addition of about 38,000 MW which will be more than what is actually on the grid by March, 2012. In addition, about 1,09,000 ckm of transmission lines and about 2.7 lakh MVA of DC transmission capacity and 13,000 MW of HVDC systems are estimated to be added. The total investment is expected to be about Rs 180,000 crore in the transmission segment.