Coal woes pull the plug on power sector.

Byline: Our Bureau

A debilitating domestic coal shortage and prospects of costlier imported coal derailing upcoming projects marred what started as a bright year for the electricity sector.

The strong performance by the private sector, which has continued to shoulder much of the generation capacity addition burden, and the emerging popularity of the Power Exchanges as transparent platforms for striking spot market deals were among the positives for the electricity sector in 2011. However, the worsening finances of the State Electricity Boards that has translated into a string of payment defaults, combined with the increasing reluctance among lenders to fund new generation projects on account of viability concerns, threatened to douse the new found optimism in …