After Rajasthan, Punjab Says it Will Cut Power for 2-3 Hrs Due to Nationwide Coal Shortage

Severe coal shortage in the country has started impacting power generation in many states with Punjab effecting a power cut of three to four hours across the state on Saturday. A day ago, Rajasthan had also said that it will schedule one-hour power cuts.

Officials of state owned Punjab State Power Corporation Lmited (PSPCL) said two units each at Talwandi Sabo power plant, Ropar plant and one unit at the Lehra Mohabbat plant have been shut.

While the units at the Lehra Mohabbat plant and Talwandi Sabo plant have been forced to shut because of coal shortage, technical glitches have forced the shut down of two units at Ropar. This has led to a power shortage of 1,000 MW.

Luckily for the state government, there is a low demand in the agriculture sector now as the paddy is being harvested, and does not require irrigation. As a result, the demand for power is around 8,500 MW.

Due to gap created by the coal shortage-induced shutdown of power generation, the state power utility is buying power from the power exchange.

The state government-owned PSPCL is being forced to buy power at a high rate from the exchange. On Friday, the corporation bought power at Rs 13 per unit, straining the already stretched state coffers. The Punjab government has made an urgent appeal to Centre for coal supply.

The shortages in India – the world’s second largest coal consumer – follow widespread outages in neighbouring China, which has shut factories because of the crisis.

Over half of India’s 135 coal-fired power plants, which in total supply around 70% of the country’s electricity, have fuel stocks of less than three days, data from the federal grid operator showed.

The eastern states of Jharkhand and Bihar are also among the worst affected by the coal shortage, an analysis of daily load despatch data from federal grid regulator POSOCO showed.

Separately, Andhra Pradesh said acute supply shortfalls were pushing it towards unscheduled power cuts, adding that crops could dry up if there is no electricity to power irrigation pumps.

“More water is required in the last stage of harvesting and if it is denied, fields would dry up and farmers stand to lose,” Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy said in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday.

(With inputs from Reuters)

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