By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, July 30, 2015 : Odisha, which pioneered power reforms in the country, hopes to be self-reliant in the power generation this year and plans to sell surplus power generated in the state to other states by 2016-17, an official said on Thursday.

The state expects to avail 32,059 million units of power after the commissioning of many new power plants and as part of the state share from the Centre by 2016-17.

A review meeting chaired by chief minister Naveen Patnaik over the performance of the Odisha Power Transmission Corporation Limited (OPTCL) and Grid Corporation of Odisha (Gridco) revealed that the state would be surplus in power in the next fiscal.

However, the chief minister directed the OPTCL and GRIDCO for enhancing the capacity of power distribution utilities in the state for uninterrupted power supply to consumers.

He asked officials to connect all human settlements with electricity in a time-bound manner and reduce transmission and distribution loss.

The chief minister also directed the installation of 500 33/11 KV substations by 2017, officials said here.