Power situation in Punjab to improve as Ropar thermal unit resumes operation

Tribune News Service

Ruchika M Khanna

Chandigarh, April 28

The Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) has said that the power supply situation across Punjab will improve today.

One unit of Guru Gobind Singh Super Thermal Plant at Ropar, which was closed for a month for annual maintenance, started generation on Thursday.

Another unit at Talwandi Sabo Power Limited Plant at Mansa (closed because of a snag) will start generation on Friday morning.

“This will fulfil the surge in power demand and the power supply situation will normalise,” said Baldev Singh Sran, CMD of PSPCL.

Rural areas of the state and industrial consumers have been suffering power outages for two days now. The situation had become worse on Wednesday, after two more units - one at Guru Gobind Singh Super Thermal Power Plant at Ropar and other at Talwandi Sabo Power Limited plant at Mansa were forced shut because of technical snags.

Sran said there were simultaneous faults at two plants, leading to shortfall of 810 MW on Wednesday. “Due to hot weather and dry spell, Punjab’s average power demand during April is 30-35% higher than previous year, we are working to meet the same,” he said.

Punjab is facing power shortage of about 2050 MW, out of the total demand of around 9500 MW, leading to the imposition of long power cuts for 6 to 8 hours in rural areas and of lesser duration in cities.

On Wednesday, there was a shortage of 282 lakh units in the state. The power supply was 1,684 lakh units against the demand of 1,966 lakh units. With the rise in day temperature, the maximum demand is around 9600 MW with a shortage of 2050 MW.

The power cut for the urban industry is of 6 hours. For rural consumers, power cuts are imposed for up to 12 hours and in cities, unscheduled cuts are imposed.

The one unit of 210 MW at Ropar thermal, which was under shut down due to boiler leakage, has started power generation, while 660 MW unit of Talwandi Sabo may start on Friday. However, not much respite is expected given the high demand for power, said All India Power Engineers Federation spokesperson VK Gupta.

Ropar thermal plant has 8.3 days’ coal stock, while Lehra Mohabatt thermal has 4 days’ coal stock. In the private sector, GVK has 2.4 days’ stock, Rajpura 18 days’ stock and Talwandi Sabo 6.5 days’ stock.

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