Outage threat looms as coal stocks deplete in Punjab
Ruchika M Khanna
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, September 9
The threat of outages in Punjab looms large as the state’s thermal plants are running out of coal. None of the thermal plants in the state have the requisite buffer stocks of coal. Data available with The Tribune shows that all plants have coal stocks ranging from two to eight days only, even as the supply has been restricted because of the regulation in coal supply by the Centre.
As per new norms, affected due to severe coal shortage, the supply is being given on priority to only those plants where the stocks have dropped to less than 14-day requirement. Since Punjab has been running its plants on a much less Plant Load Factor (because of outages of thermal units at Talwandi Sabo plant and Ropar), the government is accordingly calculating the state’s coal stocks, maintaining that coal supplies in plants need not be replenished immediately.
“But now, the demand of power is at the peak because of paddy cultivation. We require 12,000-13,000 MW daily, and for that the two thermal power plants at Rajpura and Mansa need to run to their full capacity. Moreover, the thermal units at Ropar and Mansa have again started generation, thus requiring more coal than the Centre calculated, based on the initial limited functioning of these plants. Since the coal supply to these plants has been stopped, it poses a threat,” said PSPCL Chairman A Venu Prasad.
It may be noted that at this time, when the paddy crop is maturing, water requirement is high, necessitating running of power-operated tubewells for long hours. Alarmed, the state has now shot off a letter to the union coal secretary, urging him to immediately restore coal supply to Punjab.
