6-hour power cut jolts Himachal industry

Ambika Sharma

Solan, April 26

Power cuts up to six hours have been imposed in various industrial areas owing to lack of sufficient power.

As per the Area Load Dispatch Centre’s (ALDC) directions, the schedule of effecting load restrictions are being imposed in various industrial areas.

“About six-hour load restrictions are being imposed since yesterday in Baddi. This has affected the manufacturing. An average loss of Rs 5 lakh is suffered by one unit by such cuts,” said steel unit owner Rajiv Singla.

The investors rued that no such cuts were being imposed on the industry in Punjab.

Load restrictions have been effected from 9 am to 3 pm in Baddi, Nalagarh, Paonta Sahib, Parwanoo, Mandhala, Kandrori in Kangra district, Amb, Una and Gagret in Una district as well as on high consumption manufacturing units like Gujarat Ambuja Cements, Ultratech Cements and at Golthai in Bilaspur.

As much as 618 MW power load has been restricted owing to the nationwide coal shortage, lesser wing and hydro generation, low frequency and maintain the grid stability.

Officials in HP State Electricity Board Limited said the anticipated demand during this time was also on the higher side and this further restricted the supply of power.

The lack of power availability was being listed as the key reason for the long power cuts with the ALDC directing the officials to prepare roster for load restrictions.

A senior official in HP State Electricity Board Limited said this was nationwide scenario due to coal shortage and fluctuations in hydel generation.

The situation was being monitored at the national level and if temperatures improve, more water will flow into the rivers which will help hydel power generation.

Industrial cuts are imposed as they are more load consuming while little power is utilised in the domestic sector.

He also added that no power was available for trading on real time.

Every unit suffers almost Rs 5lakh loss

About six-hour load restrictions are being imposed since yesterday in Baddi. This has affected the manufacturing. An average loss of Rs 5 lakh is suffered by one unit by such cuts. — Rajiv Singla, steel unit owner