Coal shortage hits PSPCL’s Rupnagar thermal plant
Bahadurjeet Singh/ Rupnagar
Within less than a month of operationalisation of Pachhwara coal mine, Guru Gobind Singh Super thermal plant ,Rupnagar is facing coal shortage and unit no. 6 has been closed today due to coal shortage and another unit on flame failure.
On December 16 last year the chief minister while receiving first coal rake from state’s captive Pachwara Mines at Guru Gobind Singh Super thermal plant, Rupnagar had announced that Punjab state will not face any shortage of coal required for producing electricity and none of the thermal power plants will face any coal shortage.
Today five thermal units are under shutdown within Punjab. Three units of Rupnagar thermal, and one unit at Lehra Mohabbat are under shut down.One unit of Talwandi Sabo is under shutdown due to abnormal boiler sound.
Coal shortage hits PSPCL’s Rupnagar thermal plant . The maximum power demand of Punjab on Thursday was 8412 MW,an increase of 30% over last year’s demand of 6212 MW on ta corresponding day. On average maximum power demand has increased by over 25%.
The power supply on Thursday was 1546 lakh units against 1143 lakh units on corresponding day last year.The average power supply this year has increased by 20 % mainly due to more consumption in domestic sector.
Punjab state power corporation limited (PSPCL) is purchasing about 225 lakh units from outside state sources on a day ahead and real time basis.The average rate of power purchase is about Rs. 7 per unit. The unannounced power cuts may be there in Punjab due to gap between demand and supply today.
When contacted Rupnagar Thermal Plant chief engineer Manjit Singh said that the unit has been closed due to problem in coal feeding while another unit was closed due to boiler leakage.He did not give any satisfactory reply regarding coal shortage at the thermal plant.
January 6,2023
