Gridco may earn Rs 700 cr from power trading

State-run power trader Gridco Ltd said, it is at a comfortable position to earn Rs 700 crore in the current fiscal by trading power on energy exchanges and selling to other states as better post monsoon rainfall has increased chances of higher hydro power production.

“We have so far managed to trade power worth Rs 350 crore both on exchanges and via short-term trade with other states such as Uttar Pradesh. We hope the trading revenue could go upto Rs 700 by end of 2014-15,” said an official of Gridco. The state has generated around 750 Mw hydro power in the current month out of total 3200 Mw power available from different thermal power and renewable energy generators, compared with less than 500 Mw hydro power generated a month ago.

The hydro power output has got a major boost in last couple of weeks due to better post monsoon rainfalls. Between October 1 and 22, Odisha received 18 per cent excess rainfall than normal, against 31 per cent deficit recorded for all India. In the July-September monsoon period, it had recorded 4 per cent deficit than normal rainfall. Due to ample supply of water, major hydro power stations have reported better performance in October, data from Odisha Hydro Power Corporation (OHPC) said. All the major reservoirs have water levels either at the maximum level or a little below the upper limit, it said.Hydro power rates are much cheaper compared with electricity available from coal-fired thermal sources. Gridco usually buys around 15 per cent of its total power requirement of 3000 Mw from hydro power generators.

Officials said, due to ample hydro power availability, Gridco wants to keep cheaper power for the state and sell costlier thermal power outside to earn profit. However, due to poor demand and lack of transmission facility for supply of power, the trading has remained rather dull for some time now.“Gridco can sell 400 Mw power everyday provided there is corridor (power supply path) for us to do that. Due to power traffic issues, the rates have dropped to below Rs 3 per unit and hence, we hold our power sales some days,” said the Gridco official.However, with the winter season approaching, Gridco is expecting better demand and hopes to generate Rs 350 crore more, the official added.

Cost of power purchase is one of the highest expenditure incurred by Gridco, roughly eating away around 83 per cent of each rupee earned by the power trader, as per financial data provided by it for 2013-14. However, due to better rainfall last year, hydro power generation met as much as 35 per cent of total requirement, pushing Gridco’s profit by 51 per cent to Rs 48.25 crore.  In 2012-13, total revenue earned from power trading stood at Rs 413.55 crore, including Rs 14.8 crore income via trading through power exchanges. Gridco mostly sells power through bilateral agreements, which are long term power supply commitments.