10 coal-fired power plants in Guj kept shut due to less demand

Ten of the 15 coal-fired power generation plants of the Gujarat State Electricity Company Ltd (GSECL) have been kept shut since the last three days owing to the reduced power demand in the wake of heavy rains in parts of the state, an official said on Sunday.

Parts of Gujarat have been witnessing heavy rains since the last few days. In Vadodara, normal life was badly hit for at least two days starting Wednesday, after the city received nearly 500 mm rainfall in 24 hours till Thursday morning, creating a flood-like situation.

"Following heavy rains in parts of Gujarat, the power demand, especially from the farm sector, has gone down considerably. The household consumption also decreased due to less heat," an official of the Vadodara-headquartered GSECL said.

The per-day power demand declined to 11,000 MW from 15,000 MW ever since heavy rains started lashing the state, he added.

"Due to the reduced demand, we have shut 10 of the 15 power generation plants. The total installed capacity of these 10 power plants is 2,300 MW," the official said.

When all the 15 plants are functional, they consume 45,000 tonnes of coal per day to generate power. Now, as only five of them are operational, they consume only about 15,000 tonnes coal everyday, he added.

The GSECL power plants are located in Gandhinagar in North Gujarat, Wanakbori in Central Gujarat, Ukai in South Gujarat and Sikka near Jamnagar in the Saurshatra region.

This is second time in the last two months that the GSECL has shut its power plants temporarily. Power generation from over a dozen of its plants of was shut for two days- on June 11 and 12- due to a drastic drop in demand due to cyclonic storm 'Vayu', the official said.