PSPCL supplies 25% more power in 2nd half of the March : Harbhajan Singh
Kanwar Inder Singh/ royalpatiala.in
Harbhajan Singh PWD and Power minister Punjab disclosed that this year Punjab State Power Corporation Limited has catered to the peak demand of 8,490 MW i.e 14% more during March-2022 in comparison to 7,455 MW in March 2021.He said that PSPCL has supplied 16,869 Lakh Units (LUs) during the 2nd half of march 2022 which are 25% more in comparison to 13,452 LUs supplied during the last year.
Minister informed that early onset of sweltering weather due to sudden increase in temperature requiring air conditioning by general consumers coupled with watering requirements of wheat crop before harvesting has resulted in exponential rise in power demand. Moreover, in view of the coal shortage scenario prevailing in the country and increasing power rates in the market, the power sector is facing an unprecedented tough situation.
Harbhajan Singh lauded the efforts of the Punjab State Thermal and Hydel plants in meeting this challenge especially the 110 MW Shanan Hydel Project Joginder Nagar which has recorded its all-time second highest monthly generation of 471 LUs during March 2022 which is the highest ever generation in a month in the last 24 years.He said that the generation at Shanan during March 2022 is 300% more than that achieved in March 2021 (118 LUs) .
He further added that during the month of March-2022,PSPCL has supplied maximum 961 MW power to Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Manipur, Maharashtra and West Bengal states for banking which is 37% more than 701 MW banked last year and in return power upto 2300 MW will be received back during paddy. Daily average demand during the month of March-2022 is 7400 MW and last year it was recorded 6300 MW.
Harbhajan Singh informed that peak demand in the coming paddy season is anticipated to be around 15,000/15,500 MW and in addition to its available resources PSPCL has made additional arrangements to cater this demand through more banking, more allocation of power from central sector, short term power purchase and purchase from power exchange on day to day basis.
PSPCL supplies 25% more power in 2nd half of the March : Harbhajan Singh. This year water level at Pong ,Bhakra and RSD reservoirs is higher by 23.53 Feet, 34.02 Feet and 8.99 Meter respectively in comparison to last year. Efforts are also being made to arrange more coal through e-auction and allocation of more coal from CIL and special emphasis operationalization of Pachhwara coal mine by June-2022 so that in addition to 8 hours regular supply to agriculture pump sets, uninterrupted and quality power supply be given to all categories of consumers in the state in the upcoming paddy season.
April 1,2022
