Punjab to buy power, shuts down its 8 thermal units

Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) said on Tuesday it has shut down its eight power generating units temporarily as it is getting cheaper power from new units and central power projects.

“A few units of PSPCL thermal plants have been backed down due to more availability of power from new and upcoming thermal plant of Rajpura and other plants in Central Sector such as Ultra Mega Power Projects Mundra in Gujarat and Sasan in Madhya Pardesh,” Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) CMD, K D Chaudhri said in a release.

An official spokesman said 8 units out of total 13 units of three thermal plants are shut down. PSPCL is presently getting 90 lakh units, 40 lakh units and 138 lakh units per day from Mundra, Sasan and Rajpura plant respectively.

“Power from these plants is cheaper which led to obvious decision of backing down own thermal plants and buying power at lower cost which is purely a commercial decision,” he said.

Moreover, by “backing down” own units, coal is also being conserved to meet with higher demand of power during paddy season, he said.

Power from new plant and central projects is cheaper by 40-50 paise per unit as against own power generation cost. However, Chaudhri clarified that there was no shortage of coal at all.

CMD said Guru Gobind Singh Super Thermal Plant, Ropar coal has stock of 4,50,121 tonnes which is sufficient for 24 days while Guru Hargobind Thermal Plant, Lehra Mohabat has coal stock of 1,61,080 tonnes sufficient for 12 days and Guru Nanak Dev Thermal Plant, Bathinda has coal stock of 92,956 tonnes which is sufficient for 17 days.

Regular coal rakes are coming for the three thermal plants, he said. On the issue of coal supplier Panem, he said that parleys are on and the (payment) issue (with it) would be resolved in next few days.

There is a standoff between coal supplier Panem and PSPCL on payment issue for past several days. Power utility had entered into a joint venture with Panem Coal Mines Ltd in 2001 for development and operation of coal mine at Pachwara in Jharkhand.