GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
Ministry of Power 

RAJYA SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1693
ANSWERED ON MARCH 12, 2013 

QUESTION
Capacity Utilization of Power Plants 

1693. SHRI RAJEEV CHANDRASEKHAR:

Will the Minister of POWER be pleased to state:

(a)   whether Government has reviewed the capacity utilization of power plants in Karnataka and other parts of the country;

(b)   if so, the details and the outcome thereof; and

 (c)    the action Government proposes to take to ensure that the power plants achieve their full capacity utilization?

ANSWER
THE MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) OF THE MINISTRY OF POWER
(SHRI JYOTIRADITYA M. SCINDIA)

(a) to (c): The Central Electricity Authority (CEA) under the Central Government periodically inter-alia monitors the capacity utilization of power plants of the country including for Karnataka. The performance of power plants in Karnataka and other parts of the country depend upon many factors like forced and planned outages, technological obsolescence of some of the vintage units, schedule from beneficiary states, transmission constraints and availability and quality of fuel for thermal plants and availability of water for hydel power plants.

Based on the review, some of the generating stations with low performance are considered for R&M work and life Extension from time to time by respective power utilities.

 The action plans to ensure that the power plants achieve their full capacity utilization are as under:

1. Better availability of coal and gas to power sector.

1. Adopting better Operation & Maintenance practices by power plants.

1. Renovation and Modernization of existing old Thermal and hydro power plants by respective power utilities.