Grim power situation in Punjab; total 5 units shut down
Kanwar Inder Singh / royalpatiala.in
“With 2 units of state-owned thermals plants were shut down, in addition to 2 units of Talwandi Sabo Power Limited (TSPL), which were already non operational and one unit of Ranjit Sagar dam is not working. The third unit of TSPL is running at 50 percent capacity. All these factors making power situation grimmer, in Punjab” said Gurjit Singh , an entrepreneur from Patiala
The only soothing news is that L&T owned Nabha Power Limited (NPL) at Rajpura is running continuously on full load capacity and 2 units of GVK at Goindwal sahib are also running, presently on full load.
Today, Hydro projects at Ananadpur sahib Hydel, Shanan power and UBDC are running on full load. But Mukerian Hydel Project is running at 33 percent capacity.
When contacted the TSPL authorities, they confirmed that their two units of 660 MW are not working. One unit is not working since March 2021 and is expected to be operational by August. Another unit got some major technical fault on Saturday midnight and our engineers are working day and night to restore that unit. But due to some technical error, that unit is still not becomes operational. They also confirmed that the remaining third unit of 660 MW is also running on 50 percent load ,due to some technical issue. The spokesperson added that its for the first time in the history of TSPL that such a major breakdown happens. Our staff, engineers are working overnight to restore the production.”
When contacted the chief engineer GGSSTP Ropar, he said, “ our unit three had developed a technical snag and it will be operational by tomorrow evening.”
When contacted GHTP chief engineer, he said, “ by the grace of the God no major problem is detected in unit number 1 of GHTP plant and it will start functioning by today evening.”
Due to this, PSPCL is forced to purchase power from other sources, on higher rates. Punjab govt had given an additional amount of Rs.309 crore to PSPCL , during current paddy season to purchase power from the open market to mitigate the immediate surge in power demand due to continued dry spells in the state.
July 8,2021
