Grid Corporation of Orissa (Gridco) today signed an MoU with the Power Trading Corporation (PTC) for supply of 150 Mw power per day to tide over the shortage of power in the state.
The agreement will be effective from 26th February to 31st March. While the power will be sourced from New Delhi Power Ltd through power banking system, PTC will be the executing agency.
The power will be supplied between 6 AM and 12 midnight. Since there is drastic fall in hydro power generation, the government has taken this step to meet the power demand and avoid load shedding, said S.N. Patra, the state energy minister after the signing of the MoU.
Under the power banking system, the state government will give back the power supplied by New Delhi Power Ltd in September-October, 2009 when hydro power generation is expected to pick up.
To meet the demand in April-May, the government is in discussion with Jammu and Kashmir for sourcing additional power. It may be noted Orissa till recently was a power surplus state and exported 200 Mw of power. But falling hydro power generation has pushed it to deficit category.