Explore ways to enhance power generation: Centre to Punjab govt

With Punjab witnessing an exponentially high growth in power consumption this year, Union Power Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has asked the state government to make a futuristic calculation of the power demand and explore the ways to enhance the state’s power generation.

Khattar, who held a meeting with a Punjab Government delegation here last evening, told senior functionaries present at the meeting to increase both thermal and renewable power generation in the state.

Sources in the state power department said though the Union minister emphasised on ensuring that 43 per cent of the energy demand of the state was met through clean energy generation by 2029-30, he also asked the delegation to look at ways and means to enhance thermal power generation.

Sources in the government said they emphasised on the recent acquisition of the Goindwal Sahib power plant by the state government from a private company (GVK Power), which has increased state’s own installed capacity for thermal power generation from 1,760 MW initially, to 2,300 MW now.

The state government delegation, led by three Cabinet ministers, including Power Minister Harbhajan Singh ETO, made a pitch for the Centre setting up thermal power plants at the pitheads of coal mines, rather than setting up plants here and incurring huge costs on transportation of coal to Punjab from coal producing states.

The meeting, however, revived the hope of the state setting up two super critical units of thermal power at Lehra Mohabbat. The construction cost of these units being very high (over Rs 6 crore per MW), the proposal has been “under consideration” for a long time now.

As of now, the total installed capacity for power generation in the state is 14,843 MW. While 2,300 MW is generated through the thermal power plants at Rajpura, Talwandi Sabo, Lehra Mohabbat and Ropar, the state generates 2,300 MW hydropower and gets its share of 1,141 MW from the BBMB. Other than this. Punjab generates 2,879 MW of power through solar plants, biogas plants etc. The state is now planning to install 66 new solar plants, each with a capacity of 4 MW.

This year, the power demand in the state had escalated to record 16,000 MW during the peak summer months. In 2023, the average power demand during the peak summer months was 15,000 MW, with a peak of 15,350 MW. The highest single-day power demand this year was 16,080 MW.

To meet that demand, the state had to buy additional power from the power exchange, incurring huge costs. With climate change leading to intense summers and the power demand in the agriculture sector rising, the Centre wants the state to explore ways to increase its power generation.

Plea for post-paid meters turned down

The Punjab Government has reportedly demanded that it be allowed to install post-paid meters, instead of prepaid ones under the Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS). The demand has, however, been turned down by the delegation led by Union Power Minister Khattar