Contingency Plan In Place For Hydel Power Shortage

To offset the loss of around 4,000 mw of hydel power on account of the drought situation prevailing in most states, the power ministry has put into action a contingency plan to ensure the availability of around 5,300 mw of additional power over the next few months.

The ministry's plan largely hinges on stepping up generation from idle plants, postponing the annual maintenance schedules of thermal plants, and early commissioning of two key transmission lines for evacuation of surplus power from the eastern part of the country to the power deficient northern and southern areas.

According to power secretary R V Shahi, thermal utilities across all sectors have been asked to postpone their annual maintenance schedules. This would result in the availability of around 1,000 mw, which would have otherwise been unavailable during this time of the year.

The ministry of power has also asked the state-owned National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) to ensure the availability of 1,000 mw from its power stations in the eastern region.

"NTPC's eastern region stations operate at around 60 per cent plant load factor (PLF) because of inadequate transmission links hindering evacuation of power to the deficient north and southern parts of the country," Shahi said.

The ministry has asked NTPC to step up production in its eastern plants and also asked Power Grid Corporation to expedite the Sasaram HVDC link (between the eastern and northern region) and the Talcher-Kolar HVDC link (between east and south of the country) to enable evacuation of power from the surplus eastern parts to the power starved parts of the country, he said.

Additionally, the ministry has advanced the commissioning schedule for the second stage of NTPC's Ramagundam plant. Around 500 mw from the project is expected by October.

"About 125 mw is also expected from the NTPC's Kayamkulam plant, which is running at partial load," Shahi said.

The shortage of power would be felt during the peak festival season in September-October, and in November when the sowing of Rabi crops takes place, apart from the expected shortages during the height of winters.

Of the overall generation target of 550,000 million units for 2002-03, around 82,000 million units was factored in from hydel generation. A shortfall of around 24,000 million units of hydel generation is anticipated because of the scanty rainfall, which translates into around 4,000 mw, Shahi said.

According to Shahi, the West Bengal Power Development Corporation is ready to provide around 200 mw additional power for transfer to the north or southern parts, while the Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) has agreed to supply 100 mw of additional power.

State-owned NEEPCO has also agreed to transfer 200 mw from the eastern part of the country to power deficient areas. Around 200 mw of power from Tenughat project in Jharkhand is also being sought.

The ministry has also asked states to initiate dialogue with captive power plant owners to facilitate evacuation of excess power from these plants into the grid.

"Much of the 25,000 mw captive power capacity in the country operates at 50 per cent PLF and there is scope for using power from these project to tide over the shortfall," Shahi said. The ministry has factored in about 2,000 mw from captive sources.