In the first week of June with rise in mercury, the electricity demand in Uttar Pradesh reached a historical 26000 megawatt, giving sleepless nights to the officials to cope with. The officials in the UP Power Corporation Limited (UPPCL) have been expecting demand to go up further as experts have been predicting a delay in monsoon this year.
Thermal Plant Project Delayed by Two Months
The situation this summer has become more serious due to delay in the commissioning of the two thermal power projects. The 660 megawatt thermal power project at Jawaharpur, UP has been delayed by two months and now a deadline has been set for it to start production by June 30. Another project of similar capacity at Obra -C too has been delayed by three months and the officials have now been expecting it to begin generation next month. According to the officials at UPPCL both these projects were to start generation of 660 megawatt each in the second week of May but were delayed. They said that with the rise in demand every day there is no option left but to purchase electricity from the energy exchange.
Concerned over delay in commissioning of the thermal power project, the Chairman of UPPCL M Devraj visited Obra and set a deadline for the generation to start. He asked the officials responsible for the project to complete it by June 30. While for Jawaharpur, the deadline of July 15 has been set. The UPPCL Chairman said that if the state starts getting 1320 megawatt from these two new plants, the pressure of demand would be eased to some extent.
Power Purchase from Other States
The UPPCL has entered into an agreement with Tamilnadu, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Jammu & Kashmir for supply of surplus power. As per it these states would supply electricity surplus with them to UP and would get it in return later on. The state is getting 3000 megawatt electricity daily as per this agreement. Besides, power plants of UP Power Generation Corporation Limited (UPPGCL) have been generating 3077 megawatt at present and 180 megawatt from the Hydro plants. Besides, the state is getting 4620 megawatt from the private thermal stations of Bara, Meja and Karchana in UP. The central grid has been providing 7250 megawatt power to UP. The officials of UPPCL stated that few of the units owned by UPPGCL have been undergoing maintenance and not generating electricity at present. Once operational, these units would give 1000 megawatt of electricity more to UP.
However despite all these arrangements, demand in UP can only be fulfilled through purchase of power from the energy exchange. The Chairman of UP State Electricity Consumer Council, Awadhesh Verma, said this month the demand may go up to 28000 megawatt as weather experts have been predicting monsoon to reach UP by June 27. He said that agreements with other states are fruitful in meeting demand but at the same time purchase from energy exchange has to go up to provide relief to consumers from the scorching heat.
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