Over 92% under-construction private power units face uncertainty

Out of the 23,730 MW of private thermal power plants currently under construction, only projects with 1,825 MW have announced the commissioning date, while others are listed as “uncertain”, according to a reply tabled in Parliament by the government. Power minister RK Singh also informed the house that 20,420 MW and 20,186 MW of thermal power plants are under construction by the central and the state sectors, respectively.

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According to research firm India Ratings, 85% of under-construction private plants are stressed, and are not receiving any incremental credit from banks and equity markets. The agency expects annual coal-based capacity addition to remain subdued at 5GW-6GW till FY21. The possible decline was attributed to yearly decommissioning of nearly 2 GW of old plants, unavailability of fresh funds, inadequate coal availability and lack of new PPAs. The country added only 3,600 MW of coal power plants in FY19.