Punjab is reeling under the acute shortage of powergeneration which has affected almost every sector and consumer across the state.However, the current shortage of power supply has affected the industries more againstany other consumers as they require an immense amount of power for goodsmanufacturing.
On Saturday, shut down of the third unit of Talwandi SaboThermal Power Plant has worsened the situation and the entire units of electricitygeneration area is now completely non-functional.
Earlier, other two units of the power plant had developedtechnical snag which could not be solved until now.
A Venu Prasad, CMD, PSPCL said, “We have been repeatedly directingthe plant authorities to ensure the availability of all three units in thepaddy season. But they have failed to do so. Due to the failure of its thirdunit, we are facing difficulties in meeting the demand.”
Amidst all this, PSPCL has issued a circular to the industriesstating severe power outages beyond July 11. This however will put industriesinto severe distress as they will not be able to deliver their usual output. Thesevere power outages as per the circular will come into effect from July 11 andwill run till July 15.
Industries which used to get electricity under 1000 KVAfrom Category 1, Category 2 and Category 3 feeders (all zones) will be suppliedup to 10 percent of their supply or 50 KVA than the required.
This bargain in power supply will be done for 8 hours aday from July 11 to July 15.
Notably, as the units of many thermal plants arenon-operational, all categories of consumers across the state are facing powercuts Owing to this, the government has changed the timings of governmentoffices so that an adequate amount of electricity can be supplied to agriculturesector and industries.
On the other hand, the state government has directed theplant officials to make all efforts to restart generation at the earliest. Ithas also issued the notice to the plant officials to explain why capacitycharges should not be deducted for the entire contract year (2021-22),considering the non-availability of its units.
In a sigh of relief, the PSPCL has been able to purchase 350MW power from the exchange at Rs 3.75 per unit and another 531 MW at Rs 3.21per unit to meet the shortage.