After a hiatus of two years, the Centre will restart a revival scheme for gas-based power units. For this, the Union Budget has allocated Rs 1,035 crore to the Power System Development Fund (PSDF), double the allocation last year.
The money would be used for subsidising state-owned power distribution companies’ (discoms’) purchase of electricity from stranded gas-run power units.
The revised scheme would be soon finalised for Union Cabinet, said officials. The contours would be the same as in 2016. “This is in line with the recommendations of the High Level Empowered Committee (HLEC) on stressed power units. The earlier round helped more than half the gas-run capacity in the country. The current round would assist the rest,” said an official.
