Power hungry Delhi to double electricity consumption by 2014

The Central Electricity Authority has estimated that Delhi’s power requirements will almost double in the next five years. In a report, the CEA said that Delhi’s power consumption would rise to 8700MW from its curent level of 4500 MW. [caption id=“attachment_21911” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“BHEL has admitted that there has been little progress on the announced follow-on offerings (FPO). Denis Balibouse/Reuters”] [/caption]The CEA is a statutory body which advises the government on matters relating to the National Electricity Policy and formulates short-term and perspective plans for the development of electricity systems. In the wake of the CEA findings, the Delhi government is contemplating setting up more gas-based power plants to increase its power generation capacity to 4,000 MW by 2017. Its current capacity is 1000MW. In a report submitted to the Planning Commission, identifying priority areas, the Delhi government has also proposed setting up a separate entity to promote solar energy generation in a big way. At present, Delhi gets 2,400 MW from the central quota, in addition to the 1,000 MW produced by the city’s electricity generating stations.