27 FEB, 2013, 08.33PM IST, RACHITA PRASAD,ET BUREAU

MUMBAI: The power sector growth has slowed in the nine-month period ending December 2012 with several projects getting delayed, the annual economic survey has noted. Central-sector projects status report revealed that implementation of 45 out of 98 ongoing power projects and 21 coal projects out of 51 are behind schedule due to delays in land acquisition, municipal permission, supply of materials, award of work, operational issues, etc. Investment in the sector dried as environment continued to be challenging, according to the Economic Survey 2013. On the capacity addition front, India added 9,854 mw of new capacity in nine-month ended December, which amounts to around 55% of the annual capacity addition target of 17,956 mw. The capacity addition during the 12th Plan period is estimated at 88,537 mw. During the 11th Five Year Plan, nearly 55,000 MW of new generation capacity was created, yet there continued to be an overall energy deficit of 8.7% and peak shortage of 9%. The government feels energy availability does not match the need and the gap may widen as the economy moves to a higher growth trajectory and India's success in resolving energy bottlenecks remains one of the key challenges in achieving the projected growth outcomes. Import dependence in case of coal is projected to be about 22.4% by 2016-17 because resources currently allocated to energy supply are not sufficient for narrowing the gap between energy needs and energy availability. Coal and lignite will continue to dominate the energy scenario and by 2021-2 the share of these two fuel products will be about 66.8 % in total commercial energy produced and about 56.9% in total commercial energy supply by 2021-2. In terms of energy equivalent of all the primary energy sources in 2010-11, the share of coal and lignite, electricity (hydro and nuclear), and natural gas was 52%, 28%, and 11 % respectively. The Survey revealed that power generation growth slowed to 4.6% in April-December 2012 as against 9.3% reported in the same nine months a year ago, while production in almost all other core sector segments rose in the period. Electricity generation by power utilities during 2012-13 was targeted to go up by 6.05% to 930 billion units. In the nine-month period, the plant load factor of state-sector utilities remained lower than that of private- and central-sector utilities. Nevertheless it expected that four ultra mega power projects of 4,000 mw, except Tilaiya UMPP, will be commissioned during the 12th Plan. On the finance front, power accounts for 50% share in total credit flow to infrastructure sector. The rate of growth of this sector, after moderating to 13.94% in Q1FY13 improved to 21.58% in Q3. Nevertheless, foreign direct investment in the power sector slowed to $ 456 million in nin-months ended December from $1,436.75 million reported in the same period a year ago due to continued global risks and moderated business sentiment. As on 30 November 2012, electrification works in 1,06,116 un-electrified villages and intensive electrification in 2,73,328 partially electrified villages were completed and free electricity connections to 202.60 lakh BPL households have been released. Elasticity of energy use ( Kwh per rupee), defined as the amount of energy consumed for generating one unit of gross domestic production ( GDP), has remained less than one. In the thermal category, growth in generation from coal, lignite, and gas-based stations was 13.90% , 19.81%, and (-) 25.49 % respectively. The overall plant load factor (PLF), a measure of efficiency of thermal power stations, during April to December 2012 declined to 69.63 % against PLF of 71.94 % achieved during April to December2011.