India CPP generated 22,335 MW power in '07

NEW DELHI, March 7 (UPI) -- India's Central Electricity Authority said the generation capacity of captive power plants was 22,335 megawatts last year.

Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, while quoting CEA figures, said the generation capacity of captive power plants of capacity more than 1 MW was 21,468 MW as of March 31, 2006, and 22,335 MW for the same period in 2007.

"During the year 2005-06, 5364.74 million units of electricity have been exported by these captive power plants to the utilities," he told Parliament. He clarified no approval was required under the provisions of the Electricity Act 2003 to set up captive power plants.

He said the government has taken various legislative, policy and administrative measures to facilitate captive generation and utilization of surplus capacity. He said under the electricity act, captive power plants, including group captive, have been freely permitted.