2 thermal plant units trip, PSPCL woes surmount

Tribune News Service

Patiala, October 14

The PSPCL met maximum power demand of 9,363 MW on October 13, while it purchased around 1,500 MW from power exchange at a rate of Rs 11.29 per unit.

‘PPA Norms violated’

• The All India Power Engineers Federation has sought Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission’s intervention
• It says power purchase agreement (PPA) between Tata power and PSPCL is being violated
• “PSPCL is procuring electricity at rate higher than the PPA rate and there is further no basis to bypass the PSERC either,” says federation spokesman VK Gupta

 “Only 10 rakes of coal were received against the requirement of 22. However, there has been a noticeable change in weather with temperatures dropping, while the agriculture demand has also started to recede. So, the power demand has also started to decline,” said A Venu Prasad, Chairman-cum-Managing Director, Punjab State Power Corporation Limited.

On Thursday, a unit each of Lehra Mohabbat and Talwandi Sabo thermal plants tripped, following which the PSPCL faces power shortage yet again. Already a unit each of these two plants is shut.

A senior PSPCL official said: “At present, we have two 660 MW units shut at Talwandi Sabo, 210 and 250 MW units at Lehra Mohabbat and a 210 MW unit at Ropar, which are not producing power. Though the situation is manageable right now, we hope domestic load will reduce in the next four days due to change in weather.”