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Punjab to see up to 3 hours of daily power cuts till Oct 13 amid coal crisis
Punjab been witnessing power issues for quite some months now as the power plants were unable to meet the rising demand for electricity amid a paddy sowing season and soaring temperatures.
Punjab will witness up to three hour of daily power cuts till October 13 due to a severe shortage of coal which has forced the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) to reduce its power generation and impose load shedding in places across the state.
Chairman and managing director of the state-owned utility A Venuprasad said on Sunday thermal power plants in Punjab were operating at less than 50 per cent of their generation capacity as the state had only received 11 rakes of coal against its requirement of 22.
Private thermal plants have stocks to last just one and a half days while state-owned ones have stocks to last the next four days, he added.
"Yesterday, 11 coal rakes were received against the total requirement of 22 rakes. Because of depleted coal stock, these plants are operating at less than 50 per cent of their generation capacity," he said in a statement.
However, cities across the state are experiencing power cuts of up to six hours and on Saturday morning, Patiala, Amritsar, Ferozepur, Barnala, Sangrur and Bathinda experienced load sheddings that lasted for up to four hours.
The state has been witnessing power issues for quite some months now as the power plants were unable to meet the rising demand for electricity amid a paddy sowing season and soaring temperatures.
Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu had earlier blamed power purchase agreements (PPAs) with three private thermal plants signed by the previous Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) government for the outages.
“Power purchase agreements (PPAs) - Badal Govt signed PPAs with 3 private thermal power plants in Punjab. Till 2020, Punjab has already paid 5400 crore due to faulty clauses in these agreements and is expected to pay 65,000 Crore of Punjab People’s Money just as fixed charges,” he said
Punjab continues to pay an exorbitant rate to buy electricity from the power exchange in order to meet demands of both the general public and the agriculture sector.
PSPCL procured 1,800 MW of power on Sunday at a rate of ₹11.60 per unit from the power exchange but still could not do away with load shedding, Venuprasad said.
Neighbouring states of Delhi and Haryana also are experiencing similar shortages and the Aam Aadmi Party-led Delhi government held a press conference on Sunday urging the Centre to take note of the acute shortage of coal in thermal power plants, comparing the scenario with the oxygen crisis the national capital had witnessed at the peak of the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic earlier this year.
PSPCL also said that after the intervention of chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi the situation had improved and the shortage was expected to ease from October 15 an expected fall in demand and proper stockpiling.
