Amid scorching heat, Jalandhar's rural areas reel under prolonged power outages
Certain rural parts of Jalandhar district witnessed an outage of around two and half hours on Monday night
Amid scorching heat, with temperatures breaching 39°C, rural belts of Jalandhar district are witnessing prolonged power outages lasting up to three to four hours, as Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) struggles to meet rising demand with constrained supply, officials familiar with the matter stated.
Reportedly, certain rural parts of Jalandhar district witnessed an outage of around two and half hours on Monday night. However, the situation on Tuesday showed slight improvement after certain units of the Ranjit Sagar Dam and the Mukerian hydel project, which were earlier offline due to low demand, resumed operations by evening, adding to state’s total power generation.
Families sit outside their houses to get some relief during a power cut in Jalandhar. Tribune Photo: Malkiat Singh
PSPCL officials in Jalandhar said supply to farm feeders was being prioritised during low demand hours, mainly between 3 am and 8 am, as electricity use in fields remained relatively lower during the ongoing harvest season.
“The outages are being largely imposed across rural pockets of Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur, Nawanshahr and Kapurthala, typically between 6 pm and 10 pm over the last few days,” officials added.
Officials said, “The issue is not confined to Jalandhar, but extends across certain pockets of rural Punjab, driven in part by reduced hydel power generation. Prominent hydel projects such as Ranjit Sagar Dam, Mukerian Hydroelectric Project and Upper Bari Doab Canal (UBDC) were previously non-operational due to low demand.”
According to Punjab State Load Dispatch Centre (SLDC) data, state’s gross power generation stood at above 5,349 MW on Tuesday evening till 7.30 pm, against an installed capacity of 6,840.5 MW.
Guru Gobind Singh Super Thermal Plant, Ropar; Guru Hargobind Thermal Plant, Lehra Mohabbat; and Goindwal Sahib Thermal Power Plant, with a combined capacity of 2,300 MW, are presently generating only 1,606 MW electricity. Additionally, the hydel capacity of Ranjit Sagar Dam, UBDC, Mukerian and Anandpur Sahib, with a collective capacity of 1,160.5 MW, are currently producing only 565 MW power.
Similarly, Rajpura and Talwandi Sabo power plants, which have a total power generation capacity of 3,380 MW, are producing 3,129 MW.
PSPCL officials said the state’s current demand was recorded at 8,652 MW on Tuesday evening. Of this, around 5,349 MW was being generated within the state, while the rest was being sourced from the central pool, they said.
Des Raj Bangar, Chief Engineer, North Zone, said, “The ongoing imposition of power cuts is not a localised problem, but a statewide issue. The situation was more severe last week due to a fault at a 660 MW unit at the Talwandi Sabo plant. After the restoration of this unit on Saturday, the situation improved, with no cuts reported on Sunday and reduced outages of around two and a half hours, from 7 pm to 9.30 pm on Monday night. The situation is likely to improve in the coming days.”
Box: Key facts
1 Peak Temperature: 39°C
2 State’s total power demand: 8,652 MW
3 State’s power generation: 5,349 MW
4 Average outage in rural areas of the district: 3 to 4 hours
