Gridco in talks with other states for power banking

The state owned Gridco is in talks with various states for power banking to meet the power deficit in the state.

With the off-peak demand for power in Orissa ranging from 2350 to 2450 Mw and hydro generation hovering around 110-120 Mw, the government is exploring the possibility of power banking with other states.

Gridco is in talks with states like Assam, Punjab, Meghalaya, Punjab, Delhi and Himachal Pradesh, a senior official of the state energy department said.

Though a formal decision of load shedding in the state will be taken by the Orissa Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC), the government is likely to finalise a strategy to meet the deficit situation tomorrow.

Sources said, the total installed capacity in the state is 4070 Mw, out of which hydro generation capacity at 2085 Mw forms a major chunk. However, the hydro power generation has been reduced drastically due to the restriction imposed for irrigation. The state is getting about 415 Mw from TTPS (Talcher) and 210 mw from IB power station of Orissa Power Generation Corporation (OPGC) taking the total thermal power availability to about 610 Mw.

While the captive generation plants (CGPs) are supplying about 260 Mw to the state grid, drawal from the Central sector is about 1152 Mw. With the total availability of power being about 2434Mw, there is a deficit of about 400 Mw in the state. This is being met through partial load restriction.