After power outage in Mumbai, Punjab braces itself for massive power outages. With coal stock in three operational private thermal plants in Punjab depleting, power crisis has become a distinct possibility. Talwandi Sabo Power Limited (TSPL) shut down its second unit on late Saturday evening and is running its last unit on half capacity. GVK Power Plant, Goindwal Sahib, is operating one of its two units on half capacity. Officials said the plant would shut its operations completely by Sunday late evening due to coal depletion. On Sunday evening, GVK recorded 149 MW power generation out of its total 540 MW installed capacity . Meanwhile, TSPL generated 321 MW out of its total 1,980 MW capacity. Nabha Power Plant, Rajpura, recorded 665 MW power generation out of its 1,400 MW installed capacity.
The ongoing rail blockade has severely impacted coal supply for the thermal power plants in Punjab. Due to this, fear of severe power outages is building up in the state. With no movement of goods trains because of the ‘rail-roko’ agitation for an indefinite period, the coal supply in thermal power plants has reached a critical stage.
Punjab Finance Minister, Manpreet Singh Badal spoke to the farmer outfits, which have been protesting against the three new contentious agriculture laws, to ease their agitation and allow movement of goods trains. He later said, “If (goods) train services do not resume, I fear there can be power cuts and maybe total power shutdown in the state.”
Punjab witnessed maximum demand of 8,764 MW on Sunday morning, of which 6,400 MW (almost 73%) was met out from outside power sources. PSPCL can draw power only up to 6,500 MW from the northern-grid. Last year at this time, power demand in Punjab was 7,292 MW. On Sunday, PSPCL overdrew power from the northern grid during peak evening hours. While on Saturday night, PSPCL overdrew around 113 MW of power between 1am and 2am. The frequency dipped below 50 following overdraw. However, it did not cross the dangerous mark where appliances in domestic and commercial sectors can sustain damage.
State only has 2 days of coal stock left, said Mr Venuprasad, CMD,Punjab State Power Corporation Limited. Some areas in the state have already started facing power cuts due to less electricity generation.
The Chief Minister had appealed to the farmers saying that the state government needed to urgently transport food grain, coal, fertiliser and petroleum on priority, besides lifting the paddy grain from the wholesale markets. The state’s coal stocks were critical. If stocks are not replenished soon, there would be severe power shortages, which would hamper the wheat sowing operations.
