Power Minister Veerappa Moily today said that steps are being taken by the government to bridge the gap between demand and supply of power in the country. In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha, he said that these include rigorous monitoring of capacity addition of the on-going generation projects and thrust on import of coal by utilities to meet the shortfall in fuel supplies to thermal power stations from indigenous sources. He said some of the steps include development of ultra mega power projects of 4,000 MW capacity each to reap benefits of economies of scale, advance planning of generation capacity addition for 12th plan and augmentation of domestic manufacturing capacity of power equipment through joint ventures.

The Minister said that in order to optimally utilise power and reduce losses in transmission and distribution, the government is working towards strengthening of inter-state and inter-regional transmission capacity for optimum utilisation of available power. Mr Moily said steps are being taken for strengthening of sub-transmission and distribution network as a major step towards loss reduction.