Power-surplus Punjab now facing severe outages
Patiala, March 22:With the power demand touching an all-time high of 8,000 megawatts (MW), an impending coal crisis is looming on the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL), whose three plants have already been hit by the shortfall.
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Against the laid-down norm of stocking up coal for 28 days, three private plants are staring at an alarming crisis.
While the 1,980 MW Talwandi Sabo power plant has a coal reserve of 1.7 days, the 540 MW Goindwal Sahib power plant will be able to run for only 2.1 days.
Similarly, the 1,400 MW Rajpura thermal plants have 7.4 days of stock left. All these plants are privately owned, with Punjab fully dependent on these plants to meet the power demand, which peaks in summer and the onset of paddy season.
As far as government-owned plants are concerned, the situation is not that bad. The 840 MW Ropar plant has 21 days of coal, while the 500 MW Lehra Mohabbat plant has 18 days of stock.
The PSPCL has already asked the private thermal plants to increase their coal reserves. Due to shortage, the unit at Goindwal Sahib power plant has already been shut. “First, the private power plants do not have the full capacity coal linkage. Second, they are not getting adequate coal stock from the mines. We have already told them to increase the stock before the onset of paddy sowing season,” said a power engineer.
He said that companies are not supplying coal as per linkage due to shortage at the all-India level.
Besides, the coal quality does not meet the prescribed norms.
He said that due to the shortage of coal in private thermal plants, the PSPCL is running its own plants. The firm is anticipating a 15,000/15,500 MW rise in demand during the forthcoming paddy season.
Meanwhile, arrangements are being made to tide over the crisis and ensure the plants are run without any snag.
PSPCL-owned coal mine at Pachhwara is being operationalised and coal from the same will be received by May 2022, he said.
Elaborating further, the official said once the coal mine is operational, the state-owned power plants will have enough reserves.
Meanwhile, the new Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann has sought time to meet the Prime Minister. He has given information about this by tweeting.
But according to sources, Bhagwant Mann will take up a number of issues related to Punjab in which power supply will be a major issue.
During his visit to Delhi, he may also meet the Railway Minister to provide railway tracks for the transportation of coal.
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-PTC report by Gagandeep Singh Ahuja
