Ludhiana: Snag in two thermal plants triggers long power cuts

According to details, the unit that went down in Talwandi Sabo was generating 660 MW of power and the one at Ropar was generating 210 MW.

On Wednesday, while designated industrial areas were spared from power cuts, domestic areas and areas covered under mixed land use bore the brunt.

Information received from Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) revealed that as against Wednesday’s demand of 7800 MW , a supply of around 7000 MW only was available, due to which power cuts had to be imposed.

In addition to this, officials said, regular maintenance is already being done in many parts of the state ahead of the paddy season which also necessitates power shutdown in some colonies for as long as 5 to 8 hours at a stretch.

Apart from this, a supposed coal shortage has also threatened to throw power generation off track, with PSPCL’s own thermal plants at Ropar and Lehra Mohabbat in Bathinda having coal for only 7.9 days and 4.7 days, respectively, while the private plants at Talwandi Sabo , Rajpura and Goindwal Sahib having coal for just 6.2 days, 18.9 days and 2.6 days respectively.

Till Wednesday evening, a total of 3285 MW of power had been generated by all the thermal plants in the state, against their generation capacity of 5680 MW.

As per details, the Ropar thermal plant was generating 380 MW against its capacity of 840 MW. The plant at Lehra Mohabbat had all its four units functioning, but it was generating 810 MW of power against its capacity of 920 MW.

The private thermal at Rajpura was generating 1329 MW against its capacity of 1400 MW, that at Talwandi Sabo was generating only 512 MW against its capacity of 1980 MW. The GVK Goindwal thermal plant’s generation as on Wednesday evening was 254 MW, against ita capacity of 540 MW.

On April 19, Goindwal Sahib Thermal plant had to be temporarily closed as it was left with only half days of coal supply .