Express News Service
CHANDIGARH: The power situation remains to be grim in the state due to the coal shortage as five to six hours power cuts are being imposed in villages across the state and one to two hours in cities and in the coming days, the situation will be much worst as the duration of these cuts is likely to be increased.
As already four units out of 15 units in four thermal plants are shut, causing a loss of 1,410 MW. Thus Congress and SAD are taking a dig at the AAP Government for their alleged failure to tackle the power shortage.
Sources said that as of yesterday afternoon the power load in the state touched a maximum of 7,353 MW as on average as of now 6,362 MW but in the coming days it is going to increase upto 15,000 MW thus there will be a shortage of 700 to 2,000 MW during peak time.
“Already the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) is imposing power cuts ranging from five to six hours in villages across the state and one to two hours in cities. Starting May the power situationin the state will be going towards the grim side and in June and July the state will have an acute shortage of power thus major power cuts are expected as that will be also the paddy sowing season so power will be needed in the agriculture sector also,’’ said a senior official of PSPCL and added that the situationgot worse due to the shutting down of units in private thermal plants and continuous rise in power demand.
It is learnt that the cities of Patiala, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Sangrur and Amritsar cities faced power cuts today but PSPCL officially claims there are no power cuts in urban areas.
The power situation remains to be grim in the state as four units out of 15 units in five thermal plants remained shut, causing a loss of 1,410 MW. As two units of GVK thermal plant are shut because of coal shortage, one unit of Talwandi Sabo Power Limited at Mansa is shut because of a technical snag and another unit of Guru Gobind Singh Super Thermal Plant at Ropar is shut for annual maintenance.
But the officers in the PSPCL maintain that there is no shortage, in spite of a huge surge in demand. The daily coal requirement of all five thermal plants is around 75 metric tonnes while operating at the plant load factor of over 85 per cent. Despite running at reduced capacity, the thermal plants are not even getting half the daily coal requirement thus they are producing less power.
