India to bid out power projects of 48,000 mw in 2-1/2yrs: Goyal

The government plans to bid out eight to 12 ultra mega power projects of generation capacity 4,000 mw each in two-and-a-half years, Power Minister Piyush Goyal said on Wednesday. "The government is working on 12 UMPPs. We will be bidding out anywhere between 8-12 UMPPs in another two or two and a half years depending on the support we get from the state governments," Goyal said here.

Goyal also exuded confidence that in the next three to six months at least four ultra mega power projects would be bid out. "We are trying to move these UMPPs in plug and play mode so that the investors have minimum problem," he said at the India Japan strategic dialogue being held here. The minister said that government has already approved one set of documents related to the fresh UMPP bids and another set of UMPPs is under finalisation. The minister is on a visit to Japan to attend the eighth India-Japan Energy Dialogue from January 12-14. Goyal further said that Japan has 70-80 per cent of lighting from LEDs, "we are targeting 100 per cent LED penetration in India by 2019." He invited Japanese companies to "Come to India, Make in India and Conserve Energy in India." Goyal informed that the US and Europe with just 10-12 per cent of the world's populations have contributed 50 per cent of green house gas emissions, while India contributes only 2.5 per cent with 17 per cent of population. He demanded that developed countries should support the developing and emerging economies with green tech, low cost finance to keep our energy costs affordable

"Climate justice demands that developed world reassess its lifestyle and consumption of electricity and petroleum products" Goyal added. Earlier during the day, the Minister attended three conferences on Clean Coal Technologies and Efficient Coal Based Power Generation, Super-Efficient Appliances & LEDs and Energy Efficient Petroleum Refining- Energy Audit in Refineries.