Punjab’s thermal power plants have started power generation. Informing this, the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) chairman-cum-managing director A Venu Prasad on Wednesday said that the dreadful situation and apprehensions of the public about the possibility of black out in Punjab was averted due to timely decisions taken by the state power utility.
Prasad said that despite nearly two months long ‘Rail Roko’ agitation by farmers in Punjab, PSPCL has managed the entire situation without any load shedding on commercial and industrial consumers, “though minimum possible demand side management was carried out by way of curtailing power to agriculture sector and through minimum possible imposition of power cuts on domestic consumers”.
“Due to farmers’ ‘Rail Roko’ agitation, the coal stock position within the state's private thermal power stations dwindled to zero. It was, thus, apprehended that there could be a possibility of a black out or at least partial black out in Punjab paralyzing the already crippled state economy,” he said.
He said that in a power system, the basic principle is to maintain balance between the demand and supply for ensuring safe and secure operation of grid. “The lack of within state generation resulted into a challenging situation to maintain balance, and this mismatch can endanger grid security,” he said.“Due to late sowing of paddy crop and an extended dry spell during the month of September and subsequently in October, caused the paddy season demand to extend till about second week of October,” said Prasad adding that at this point of time, PSPCL usually returns the power it had availed during the paddy season, as “any failure to do so would have dented the reputation of the State or PSPCL throughout the country”.
Also due to lower reservoir levels in hydro power stations, their generation was considerably less this year, pointed Prasad. He added, the catering of demand during the month of November, when the festival season is in full swing, was also of utmost importance.
PSPCL Director (Distribution) DPS Grewal said that PSPCL has arranged power from outside the State by way of procurement of power through power exchanges, through DEEP portal at Union Ministry of Power and also full power was availed from its quota of share in the centre sector power stations.
“All possible opportunities at hand were explored and utilized to avail power in order to cater to the State’s demand. The pool created after availing power through various possible options led to very optimal and competitive rates. Timely and foresighted actions by PSPCL helped to manage the crisis with reasonable success,” he said.
PSPCL arranged a maximum power of 2,600 MW aggregating 1606 MUs at the rate of Rs 3.09 per unit from power exchanges, and quantum of 1435 MW power aggregating 392 MUs at the rate of Rs 3.05 per unit DEEP portal.
“At professional front, a challenging task was at the hands of PSPCL to run the power supply smoothly, especially given the fact that there was uncertainty as to how long this crisis would prevail which could have been a few days or weeks or even months. This uncertainty was a hindrance to plan and arrange for the shortfall in power in an optimal manner,” said Prasad.