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| Dr D Shina |
Big players in the power sector have many reasons to
welcome Thursday’s Union Budget but nothing to cheer up the ordinary
consumers, says electricity finance expert D. Shina. “This is because
there are no proposals to bring down power price inflation,” said.
In
a statement Dr. Shina said that failure of the Budget to identify weak
links and an equitable allocation among generation, transmission and
distribution sectors could retain many problems in the sector. The
extension of 10 year tax holiday to 2017 is clearly an indication to
attract more investors into the sector.
“But the fact
of under-utilisation of even the existing capacity did not get much
attention. Encouraging cheaper power to ensure a suitable power
production mix to suit the distribution companies and the ordinary
consumer has been overlooked,” she said.
There were
no efforts to remove the hurdles in utilising huge renewable energy
sources in the hydel sector. There was also no mention about the much
awaited Environment Preservation Fund to ease clearance of hydel
projects. The Budget has neglected the regional imbalance and
transmission corridor congestion.
Dr. Shina said that
the accelerated implementation of the Green Energy Corridor Project
aimed at synchronising electricity produced from renewable sources, such
as solar and wind, with conventional power stations in the grid will
ease the congestion in intra-State transmission and distribution to some
extent. But the Budget offers no solution for the inter-State and
inter-regional transmission capacity inadequacy and that will defeat
efforts to solve the generation-demand gap.
The
failure to complete transmission capacity targets has virtually
paralyzed electricity trading between the surplus eastern region and the
ailing southern region, she said.
“It has to be
noted that the present power crisis in Kerala is not a result of
non-availability of power to be purchased, but because of
non-availability of transmission corridor,” Dr. Shina, Professor in Commerce at the Sree Narayana Guru College of Legal Studies, here
said.
The
due importance given to solar energy and allocation of Rs.500 crore for
ultramodern solar power projects in State like Rajasthan, Gujarat and
Tamil Nadu is a welcome step but offers no consolation to Kerala, which
had to forego generation projects totalling 2,000 MW, she said.
Source The Hindu -
Source The Hindu -
