Forum tells state to set up more power plants

Patiala, November 4

The Power Sector Reforms Forum today cautioned the state government that the policy of privatisation followed by the previous governments by ignoring the state sector in generation capacity addition remained unchanged even now.

Addressing a press conference, forum convenor Bhupinder Singh said the PSPCL last commissioned a thermal unit at Lehra Mohabbat in 2008 and since then the capacity addition had been done only in the private sector. “To make matters worse, own thermal capacity of 2,640 MW has been reduced to 1,760 MW in 2018 due to permanent closure of Guru Nanak Dev Thermal Plant and two units of Guru Gobind Singh Thermal Plant,” he said.

He said the issue of concern at present was that the PSPCL had no plan for building any new thermal plant.

“In contrast, Haryana would be adding 4,400 MW and Uttar Pradesh 5,565 MW under the state sector. Rajasthan in its recently released renewable energy policy is planning 90,000 MW renewable capacity by 2029-30 and the policy has an optional provision for the investors to either pay land usage charges or create additional 7 per cent capacity to provide free of cost power to the state distribution companies,” he stated.

Full and optimal utilisation of cheap and superior quality coal from Pachhwara captive coal mine was possible only if the PSPCL owned thermal plants of latest technology. “Punjab’s capacity to produce around 6,000 MW power in the state has stagnated and the gap during peak season has to be imported from outside for which the transmission capacity is being enhanced every year,” he claimed. “Resultantly, the PSPCL is forced to rely heavily on the purchase of power from short-term sources and power exchange,” he added.