Tata plan to solve power woes
The Indian Express — June 9, 2005

Tata Power, one of the major energy producers in the country, has offered its support to help resolve the unprecedented power crisis in Maharashtra. Ratan Tata, the Tata group's head honcho, met chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh on Wednesday to ensure his company's committment on all possible fronts, the major promise being power supply from the Tata-owned units within and outside Maharashtra. The spare capacity of captive power units will also be unlocked, he said.

According to a presentation made by Tata Power officials at Mantralaya, the thermal plants in Belgaum and Jojobera will establish transmission route for 120 mw by October this year. The purchase prices have been quoted at Rs 4 per unit for coal/ heavy fuel-based plants and Rs 8 per unit for standby units using distillate fuel. Tata Power will also provide technical support for connectivity to grid, synchronization and metering. The project will be undertaken in two phases - medium term (18 months) and long term (36 months).

In its bid to conserve energy, Tata Power will share its ideas on air-conditioning, lighting and pumping. It suggests a load reduction of 800 mw if 10 million households in the state switch over to 21W CFL bulb from the 100W type they are using now. A further 600 MW could be saved if supply to agricultural pumps is made more efficient. The company has also suggested the state to go in for subsidised efficient pumping systems instead of subsidising electricity supply to the farmers.