After it is through with the initial 9 projects, land acquisition problems may discourage the government from continuing with the 4,000 MW-capacity ultra mega power plants in India.

However, it has so far allotted 4 of the 9 projects conceived originally, and along the course in 2008, Power Minister Sushilkumar Shinde had announced scaling up the total number of UMPPs to 13.

Power Ministry announced setting up of these high capacity projects in order to mitigate the electricity deficit in India while India's total electricity generation is at over 1,50,000 MW, 14% short of demand.

Meanwhile, PFC has so far awarded 4 such projects at Sasan (MP), Krishnapatnam (AP), Mundra (Gujarat) and Tilaiya (Jharkhand).

Moreover, Reliance Power bagged 3 of the 4 allotted UMPPs at Sasan, Krishnapatnam and Tilaiya and Tata Power is currently developing Mundra UMPP in Gujarat.

The sites for 5 other UMPPs are yet to be decided while the government had appointed Power Finance Corporation as the nodal agency for these projects.

On the other hand, the 4 additional UMPPs mentioned by Shinde were to have come up in the states of Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat.

Previously, as 11 electricity generation projects received less dry fuel in November, coal shortage continued to hit the power sector.

Power projects in the western and the eastern belt were the worst sufferers of insufficient supply of the fuel which in turn lead to critical coal stock position at the generating stations.

However, earlier, the Central Government drew out an ambitious investment programme in order to expand the power sector in the North East States with an investment of around Rs. 37,400 crore.

The plan includes setting up of 5,350 MW power projects by 2016 to bring the North-East States into the national mainstream of developmental activities.

Previously, the government stated that it would invite bids for 2 ultra mega power projects in Orissa and Tamil Nadu by next month.

Power Minister Sushilkumar Shinde stated that 4 UMPPs (ultra mega power projects) have been awarded, 2 more are in the pipeline where one is in Orissa and another one in Tamil Nadu.

By January 15 the Request for Qualifications for two UMPPs in Orissa and Tamil Nadu would be issued while it is also said that the empowered Group of Ministers (eGOM) on the UMPPs would meet shortly to decide the future course of action.

Meanwhile, Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde threatened to take action against companies that do not start work on captive mines within 2 years of allotment and said that the coal block might be taken back by the government.

When asked about the status of captive coal block allotted to NTPC, citing the international benchmark (7 to 8 years) of mining from such blocks, he said that NTPC's mining target is not behind schedule.

In addition, with an aim of setting up 20,000 MW grid solar power and 2,000 MW off-grid solar power by 2022, the Government stated that it has approved the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission.

The mission also aims to develop solar technologies for making solar power competitive to conventional grid power and install 20 million square metre solar thermal collective areas by 2022.

On the other hand, the Power Ministry revised upwards its coal import target for the current fiscal to 28 million tonnes (MT) from 25 MT envisaged earlier, due to the shortage of supply of coal from domestic sources.

The ministry had plans to double the import quantity in the next fiscal while the coal import target for the current fiscal is now 28 MT and 53 MT for fiscal 2010-11.

Further, previously, in order to benefit end consumers by way of lower tariff, Power Secretary H S Brahma stated that the Ministry would approach the Finance Ministry for abolition of service tax on power transmission.

Moreover, India is ready to launch its Solar Mission under the National Action Plan on Climate Change, with plans to generate 1,000 mw of power by 2013.

The Ministry of Power is an Indian government ministry. The Minister of Power holds cabinet rank as a member of the Council of Ministers. The current minister is Sushilkumar Shinde.

The ministry is charged with overseeing electricity production and infrastructure development, including generation, transmission, and delivery, as well as maintenance projects. India faces challenges in electrical supply and delivery, and is often unable to meet demand, even in very large cities.