Hyderabad, September 25: Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy on Saturday gave nod for more power cuts in the State. Besides agriculture and domestic sectors, the industries and other sectors too will face power cuts, if the general strike continues further.
In a review meeting, the Chief Minister said that in spite of all the constraints, they should make all efforts to see that power supply to crucial sectors are maintained and all efforts should be made to generate power and purchase it from wherever it is available to meet the shortfalls.
Officials of the APTransco, APGenco and Singareni Collieries explained the factual position to the Chief Minister. They said there was shortfall in the hydel power generation due to reduced inflows into Srisailam and Nagarjunasagar.
Regarding thermal generation, the APGENCO has an installed thermal capacity of 5000 MW, whereas it is generating only around 3100 MW of power. APGENCO thermal stations which can deliver 20 MU per day are giving only around 75 MU to 77 MU per day. Four thermal units with an installed capacity of 600 MW have been taken for annual overhaul due to shortage of Coal. Similarly, KTPS which has 11 units with an installed capacity of 1720 MW is generating only around 1000 MW.
Before the general strike began on September 13, APGENCO’s daily receipt from the SCCL was around 55,000 MT per day which has now come down to only around 11,000 MT. The Coal stock position at APGENCO’s thermal stations which was around 7.7 lakh MT before commencement of strike on September 13 has now come down to 2.61 lakh MT which is just sufficient for hardly five days. APGENCO’s Coal stock has dwindled by around 5 lakh MT during last 12 days because of strike.
Similarly, the Coal stock position of NTPC Ramagundam and Simhadri has also come down and sufficient for only 1-2 day. With a result, both the stations are running at around 70%, thereby resulting in loss of generation of around 700 MW from Ramagundam and 300 MW from Simhadri.
Therefore, the AP Transco is tyring to get additional power from outside. About 335 MW is being arranged from Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan on a banking basis, 200 MW from Kerala, 200 MW from Haryana on a banking basis, 360 MW on weak-ahead Exchange basis and 94 MW is being arranged from Intrastate. Altogether, a total of 1189 MW of energy or 28 MU is being arranged per day from other alternate resources.
The Union Ministry of Power was asked to allocate additional 500 MW of power from unallocated power of CGS. Responding to the request from State Government, the Centre has allocated additional 185 MW of power. Efforts are also being made to get additional Coal by APGENCO and NTPC. APGENCO has placed orders for 1 lakh MT of imported Coal at a cost of Rs 60 Crore.
Similarly, additional Coal of around 1.4 lakh MT is being procured from Western Coalfields Ltd. (WCL). Similarly, supplies from Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd. (MCL) have increased to 16000 MT per day as against 10000 MT earlier. Similarly, NTPC Ramagundam is getting Coal from South Eastern Coalfields Ltd. (SECL).
An additional expenditure of around Rs.100 Crores is being incurred by APGENCO towards additional Coal supplies. All efforts are being made by APTransco and AP Discoms to maintain power supply position in view of on-going agitation.
However, the officials have made it clear that in view of the prolonged strike and reduced hydel inflows and coal position, the gap between demand and supply has increased. Therefore, the AP Transco and Discoms would impose power-cuts on other sectors of economy.
——-Agencies