State reeling under temporary power shortage

In a move that is set to bring relief to all power consumers in Orissa, the state government has decided not to resort to power cut during the peak summer months of this fiscal.

"We have decided that there will be no power cut during this summer”, the state Chief Secretary B K Patnaik told media persons.

However, the state has been reeling under a peak power deficit of 500-600 MW for the past couple of days as supply of 400 MW from Sterlite Energy's Independent Power Plant (IPP) at Jharsuguda as well as Vedanta Aluminium Ltd (VAL)'s captive power plant has come to a halt due to technical reasons. Moreover, a 200 MW unit of the state owned Orissa Power Generation Corporation (OPGC) at Ib valley is presently under annual maintenance.

In addition, there has been disruption in power supply out of the state's power share from National Thermal Power Corporation's (NTPC) Farakka and Kahalgaon plants in the Central sector. The state's share from these two power plants stands at 95 MW.

"It is true that that power supply of 400 MW from Sterlite and Vedanta's CPP has come to a halt over the past two days due to technical reasons. The state has been grappling with acute power shortfall but this is only a temporary problem and we hope to tide over the deficit soon. Besides, we have decided not to go for power cut during the summer as we do not anticipate any shortage”, said K K Nath, director (engineering) of Orissa Power Transmission Corporation Ltd (OPTCL).

The overall power generation in the state stands at 2,750 MW. This includes 700 MW of hydro power, 800 MW of thermal power, 700 MW in the Central sector and 550 MW supplied to the state grid by Co-Generation Plants and IPPs.

The peak power demand during this summer is projected at 3,300 MW and the state hopes to meet the deficit by scaling up hydro power generation.

"Any deficit in peak power demand will be met through raising hydro power generation. Our reservoir levels are comfortable and we expect to meet the state's power demand till the next monsoons”, Nath added.