Odisha in talks with two states for power banking

West Bengal agrees to supply 50 Mw, but deal yet to be sealed; Odisha to start renovation of nine hydro power units

The state government is in talks with West Bengal and Arunachal Pradesh to procure power via the power banking route to tide over its ongoing peak power crisis.

"West Bengal has agreed to supply 50 Mw to us but the deal has not been finalized yet. We are also in talks with Arunachal Pradesh for power banking arrangement", said a source at Gridco.

Amid power shortfall, the state government has taken up the task of renovation of nine hydro power units- two units at Hirakud, one at Chiplima and six units of Balimela at a total investment of Rs 888 crore.

"The state government has decided to go for complete renovation of two units of Hirakud project with an investment of Rs 158 crore to increase the power capacity from the present 75 Mw (2x37.5 Mw) to 86 Mw (2x43 Mw). Work orders have been issued and the renovation process is expected to be completed in two and a half years", said Suresh C Mohapatra, principal secretary (energy).

The government has decided to renovate one unit of Chipilima hydro power project at an investment of Rs 65.76 crore and six units of Balimela hydro electric project at an outlay of Rs 664 crore.

In the meantime, on the power banking front, Tata Power Delhi Distribution Ltd has already started supplying 50 Mw power to the state grid on the power banking mode. The utility would scale up supply to 100 Mw from November and continue supplying till June next year. Gridco would return 105 per cent of the procured power to the company from July next year.

Peak power deficit in the state was hovering around 500 Mw but of late, it has narrowed to 300 Mw after two NTPC units at Kaniha and Talcher Thermal have restarted operations. One unit of NTPC Kaniha (500 Mw) and the third unit of the maharatna PSU's Talcher Thermal plant were under annual maintenance and have resumed power generation from October 8. Odisha gets 150 Mw (as state share) from the Kaniha unit and 60 Mw from the Talcher Thermal plant.

Peak power demand in the state touched 3900 Mw but availability from various sources was 3,600 Mw, leaving a shortfall of 300 Mw. Average power demand stood at 3600 Mw.

The state's hydro power generation suffered due to deficient monsoons. Water levels at Rengali and Upper Indravati, the two key reservoirs, were below 60 per cent, hindering higher generation to plug power deficit.

The state is banking on independent power producers like Ind-Barath Energy Utkal Ltd (IBEUL) and Monnet Power whose coal based power projects are likely to be commissioned soon. IBEUL has synchronised the first 350 Mw unit of its proposed 700 Mw coal-fired thermal power plant at Sahajbahal near Jharsuguda.

Monnet Power is expected to put on stream two 525 Mw units (1050 Mw) near Angul.