(TH)
All NTPC power plants over 25 years old will be phased out and converted into ‘super critical plants’ to augment generation capacity and reduce pollution, Power Minister Piyush Goyal informed the Lok Sabha on Thursday. Replying to supplementaries during Question Hour, Goyal said NTPC’s old power plants, which together produce around 11,000 MW, will be phased out gradually and converted into ‘super critical plants’, which are six-eight ttimes less polluting.
In reply to another question, the Minister said with the ‘24X7 power for all’ initiative taken jointly with State governments, access to electricity will increase and accordingly power demand will increase, leading to increased utilisation of power generation capacity. “Plans for 35 out of 36 States/UTs have already been prepared and are under implementation,” he added.In reply to another question, Goyal said 12,364 villages had been electrified as on February 28.Of these, the maximum number of 2,195 was in Bihar, followed by 2,190 villages in Odisha, 1,968 in Assam, 1,675 in Jharkhand and 1,464 in Uttar Pradesh.
