Patiala: The last unit operational in the government-run Lehra Mohabbat thermal power plant has also suspended operations on the instructions of Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) to save coal for emergency situations. Meanwhile, the power demand in Punjab has also declined to around
4,000 MW.
Punjab has five thermal power plants, including two government-run. All three private plants shut down operations due to non-availability of coal following the farmers’ agitation, including ‘rail roko’, against the farm laws. The two staterun plants did keep a single unit operational to meet the power demand, but as fuel stocks depleted, Ropar plant suspended operations on Wednesday and the unit at Lehra Mohabbat plant packed up on Saturday evening.
PSPCL officials claimed that both these government plants were stopped from generating power in order to save coal for emergency situations. The power demand has also declined and during the last three days, no major power cut has been imposed, they said.
“All three independent power plants (IPP), including Talwandi Sabo Power Limited (TSPL), Banawali, Mansa, NPL, Rajpura, and GVK, Goindwal Sahib, had already suspended their operations following no availability of coal. Now the two state-run power plants have also suspended operations to save coal for any emergency situation. They have fewer days of coal available with them if they run on full capacity,” said PSPCL official.
Both these power plants had light up their units each around two weeks ago, after the last private plant in Punjab faced shut down following coal shortage. Ropar plant has four days of coal stock whereas Lehra plant has 1.37 days of stock left.
The officials added that power demand on Monday was around 3500 MW to 4000 MW, of which around 500 MW was met from hydro projects within the state, while no power was available from power plants in the state. The power demand on Sunday was 3518 MW, as maximum demand whereas on Diwali (Saturday), it was maximum 4807 MW.
