Excessive silt deposition in two major
hydro-power projects in Himachal has been giving sleepless nights to the
people in Punjab.
With the 1,500 MW Nathpa-Jhakri hydropower project of Sutlej Jal Vidyut Nigam and 1,200 MW Karchham-Wangtoo projects in Kinnaur district being shut down due to heavy silt deposition, Punjab is facing a severe shortage of power.
Across the state, people complained they had to deal with long and unscheduled cuts. Even agriculture consumers in some areas did not get the promised eight-hour supply yesterday. While the industry in the state is expected to observe two weekly offs because of poor power availability, the high electricity-consuming industries like induction furnaces have been going without power for three days a week. For the past two days, the snapping of power supply from the two above-mentioned projects and a technical snag leading to the closure of six units at the Ropar thermal plant led to the state getting erratic supply.
Though five units at the Ropar thermal plant were made operational today morning and the sixth unit was expected to become operational by late tonight, Punjab is still facing a shortage of 500 MW of power on an average each day.
Official sources said against the demand for 9,000 MW (mega watt), the power availability with Punjab was just 8,500 MW. The state has its own generation capacity of 3,200 MW while it gets the remaining from Bhakra and National Thermal Power Corporation, besides arranging power from other state electricity boards and private power generating companies through short-term and long-term power purchase agreements.
“Though we have the resources to make additional short-term power purchase agreements and remove the gaps in supply, the capacity of the power grid system to transfer power to Punjab is just 5,300 MW. We are already using this capacity to the optimum level. The capacity was recently enhanced by 150 MW,” said a top government official. The official said the power crisis would be resolved by March 2014, the time when Punjab would enhance its own power generation. “We will be adding 1,360 MW to our generation capacity by March next year and another 1,400 MW before the onset of the paddy season in 2014,” he said.
With the 1,500 MW Nathpa-Jhakri hydropower project of Sutlej Jal Vidyut Nigam and 1,200 MW Karchham-Wangtoo projects in Kinnaur district being shut down due to heavy silt deposition, Punjab is facing a severe shortage of power.
Across the state, people complained they had to deal with long and unscheduled cuts. Even agriculture consumers in some areas did not get the promised eight-hour supply yesterday. While the industry in the state is expected to observe two weekly offs because of poor power availability, the high electricity-consuming industries like induction furnaces have been going without power for three days a week. For the past two days, the snapping of power supply from the two above-mentioned projects and a technical snag leading to the closure of six units at the Ropar thermal plant led to the state getting erratic supply.
Though five units at the Ropar thermal plant were made operational today morning and the sixth unit was expected to become operational by late tonight, Punjab is still facing a shortage of 500 MW of power on an average each day.
Official sources said against the demand for 9,000 MW (mega watt), the power availability with Punjab was just 8,500 MW. The state has its own generation capacity of 3,200 MW while it gets the remaining from Bhakra and National Thermal Power Corporation, besides arranging power from other state electricity boards and private power generating companies through short-term and long-term power purchase agreements.
“Though we have the resources to make additional short-term power purchase agreements and remove the gaps in supply, the capacity of the power grid system to transfer power to Punjab is just 5,300 MW. We are already using this capacity to the optimum level. The capacity was recently enhanced by 150 MW,” said a top government official. The official said the power crisis would be resolved by March 2014, the time when Punjab would enhance its own power generation. “We will be adding 1,360 MW to our generation capacity by March next year and another 1,400 MW before the onset of the paddy season in 2014,” he said.
Why the shortage
Supply to Punjab hit as hydro-projects in HP have been shut down due to heavy silt deposition
A snag affecting generation at Ropar thermal plant also to blame
Supply is 8,500MW, while the demand is 9,000 MW |
