Punjab stares at major power outage with coal shortage in thermal plants

Patiala: The crisis created due to the restricted supply of coal at notified prices under the fuel supply agreements (FSA) by Coal India Limited (CIL) is getting grimmer with each passing day as the stocks at the state-owned thermal plants have started depleting quickly. Also Read: CM Bhagwant Mann announces doorstep ration delivery scheme in Punjab During winters there was no power generation at Lehra and Ropar thermal plants that eventually helped PSPCL in stocking up coal reserves. But as the power demand has risen due to an early onset of the summers and electricity prices in the open exchange soring up to Rs 20 a unit (on Monday), PSPCL has put both Lehra and Ropar plants to full generation. On Monday all four units of Lehra (2x210=420 2x250=500, total 940MW) were running at full capacity generating 826 MWs of power while three out of four 210 MWs units each were operating at full capacity at Ropar generating 567 MWs of power. The limited arrival of coal is leading to the quick depletion of the stocks at the two power plants even as the situation at the private thermal plants is already critical. The two state-owned thermal plants which till 10 days ago had stocks for up to 21 and 24 days, respectively, are now having stocks only for 12 and 13 days. With no assured coal rakes in the pipelines, these too will soon fall in the critical zone, said sources in the PSPCL. As per data available with the central electricity authority (CEA), the coal arrivals at the thermal plants during the current month have fallen by more than 73%. In February, Talwandi Sabo had received 555.49 MT of coal but in March the coal arrival is just 201.88 MT till March 25. In February, Rajpura could secure 485.9MT of coal, but it only got 130.91 MT in March. Coal arrival at Goindwal has fallen from 109.1MT in February to 25.56 MT in March At the state-owned thermal plants, the authorities have been struggling to stock up coal as the arrivals have gone down from 106.95MT in February to 28.81MT in March at Lehra and from 129.72MT to 49.48 MT at Ropar thermal plants. According to the sources in the PSPCL, even as the private thermal received more coal as compared to the state-owned thermal plants, the situation turned critical for them as these had been operating at a higher PLF even during the winters when both Lehra and Ropar were under reverse shut down due to high generation costs. Meanwhile, the refusal of the union government to meet the state’s demand for additional coal has been met with a stern no. The union ministry for coal has issued a circular asking Punjab to make arrangements for imported coal instead of relying on domestic coal. The union government has made it clear that no additional coal will be allocated to the state and the supply would be in proportion to the stock received from Coal India Limited and Singareni Collieries Company Limited. While, the Centre has also asked the state to blend biomass pellets up to 5 to 7 per cent in the coal-based plants, but non-availability of the same is posing a huge challenge for the state. As of Monday, both Goindwal and Talwandi had stocks for less than a day, while Rajpura had stocks that can last for six days. At Lehra the stock is fast running out with limited coal arrivals and the same is the situation at Ropar. On Monday, PSPCL bought power worth Rs 71 lakh from the open exchange from 12:30 am till 4:30 am during the early hours at an average price of Rs 5 a unit before the prices soared to Rs 20 per unit during the day. The state is also facing problems with some of the thermal plants outside the state, which are now demanding a hike in the power cost given the rising prices of coal both within and outside the country. Instead of supplying power to the state at prices already agreed upon in the PPAs, these thermals are selling the power in the open exchange at higher prices to book profits while bearing small penalties for not honouring its commitments to the state. Under these circumstances, PSPCL is completely dependent on the thermal power within the state to meet its power demand which is hovering around 8500 MW during the day. Also Read| Padma Awards 2022: Covaxin makers, late Kalyan Singh, Neeraj Chopra among 74 honoured by President -PTC News with inputs from Gagandeep Ahuja from Patiala