Power Ministry launches schemes to procure 4,500 MW electricity supply for five years

Tags: Economy/Finance Government Schemes

The Ministry of Power on 28 November launched a scheme for power procurement totaling 4500 megawatts (MW) under the SHAKTI Policy.

Important facts

• PFC (Power Finance Corporation) Consulting, a wholly-owned subsidiary of PFC, has been designated as the nodal agency by the ministry of power.

• Under the scheme, PFC Consulting has invited bids for the supply of 4,500 MW. Supply of electricity will commence from April 2023. 

• The ministry of coal has been requested to allocate around 27 MTPA for this.

• Gujarat Energy Development Corporation, Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company, Madhya Pradesh Power Management Company, New Delhi Municipal Corporation and Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation have shown interest for the scheme.

• The scheme is expected to help those states which are facing power shortage and will also help in increasing the capacity of power generation plants.

About SHAKTI scheme

• The SHAKTI (Scheme for Harnessing and Allocating Koyala Transparently in India) policy was approved in May 2017 with the intent of better allocation of coal to present and future power plants. 

• Its objective was to introduce a more transparent and competitive coal allocation policy.

• The policy was amended in March 2019 to provide assistance to stressed projects based on the recommendations of the High-Level Empowered Committee.