Uttarakhand Power Corporation limited (UPCl) was forced to an emergency ‘rostering’ on Wednesday after the power generation dipped in the State-run hydro power projects due to low water level in the rivers on account of snowfall in the State and other technical snags involving the projects.
The demand of electricity in the State on Wednesday was 33.11 million units, whereas the availability of the electricity was 32.43 million units on Wednesday. Consequently, rural residents of Haridwar and Udham
Singh Nagar faced two hour power outages while one hour power cut was imposed on the small towns of Garhwal and Kumaon regions on Wednesday. It is not yet certain when and how the gap between demand and supply of electricity in the State, would be covered by Uttarakhand Power Corporation limited (UPCl) with little prospects of things improving.
Unable to cope up with the growing demand of electricity in the State with the power generation from various sources coming down, the department has landed itself in an unenviable plight.
Procuring electricity from the private players at regular intervals is not helping them much in addressing the deficit either. Notably, some of the State run-hydro power projects have remained non-functional due to various reasons adding salt to the injury.
Power generation has remained stalled in the Hydro Power limited Khatima (42 MW and Kalagarh (198 MW) Hydro Power units, as they remain shut due to some reasons.
Due to low water level in various rivers, no power generation was reported from Chhibro (240 MW) and Khodri (120 MW between 11 am and 4 pm.
Due to shortage of power generation from various power units being run by the Centre, the State has received 12.71 MU against 16 MU on Wednesday. According to the officials, the department is not in position to do energy banking for its lean time, especially during the winter.
The snowfall in the higher ridges during the winter has forced the department to procure electricity from the private electricity players in order to meet with the demand of electricity in the State.
To bridge the deficit, UPCl purchased 6 MU power from Indian Energy Exchanges for Thursday. UPCl would get 4.8 MU power from Meghalaya, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir in the form of power banking on Thursday.
The power corporation spokesperson Madhusudan said that plans are in the pipeline to procure electricity from the private electricity producers to narrow the gap between demand and supply of the State, which is still alarming.