Reliance Power has drastically curtailed operations at its 1,200 MW Rosa power station in Uttar Pradesh the companys largest operational generation plant since July 5. Out of the four 300 MW coal-fired units,the company has not operated three units during three days of the week to July 12,while two units were shut down during the remaining four days. Official government data submitted to grid managers shows that the station was operating at well short of the 20-25 million units that the 1,200 MW plant should be generating under normal conditions. On July 4,just before the partial shutdown started,the output from the station was recorded at 21.34 million units. According to government sources,the Rosa units are reported to have been shut down in the wake of payment delays,amid mounting arrears as the cash-strapped Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Ltd (UPPCL) has been falling back on payments. The reason attributed in the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) log sheets for the dip in electricity generation from the station is a coal shortage/feeding problem. However,corresponding government data shows that on an average,the plant has consistently maintained imported coal stocks of 25,000 tonnes and around 10,000 tonnes of domestic coal during the period,equivalent to around three days of operations. When contacted,a Reliance executive on July 9 refuted that there had been any shut down and claimed that all four units are up and running as we speak. The CEA data shows that two units were completely shut down and that there was only partial generation at the third unit. On Thursday,when contacted,UPPCLs director technical,AK Singh,did not offer a comment on the issue. The generation data shows that output from the Rosa station is been gradually stepped up during the current week. A government official involved in grid operations confirmed that payment delays by UPPCL were affecting operations of private projects in the state. This,ironically,comes at a time when UP has been facing a crisis of sorts in trying to meet runaway peak summer demand and has been found to be desperately overdrawing from the grid in the last couple of months. In case of the Lanco-run Anpara C station too,a 600 MW unit of the 1,200 MW plant has been shut down,presumably on account of a coal shortage/feeding problem. In the wake of Uttar Pradeshs rampant overdrawls from the grid,which had touched daily figures of 2,000 MW on a daily basis before the start of the rains,the states arrears under the UI head,owed to the Northern Load Despatch Centre,was pegged at a whopping Rs 1,300 crore. The UI mechanism refers to the grid-frequency linked price-balancing mechanism.
