"We have not received a single tonne of coal since 28 November. We are currently running our plant with our own coal stock which can last up to December 5. But since the prohibitory orders will end tomorrow (December 3), we hope that supplies will resume soon," said an official of TTPS.
The plant requires about 10,000 tonne coal everyday to run its 460 Mw power plant. Officials said, since supplies from mines to plant will take about two days after the prohibitory order is lifted, TTPS, which has not cut production so far, might cut generation till its stock and daily supplies reach the normal levels.
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Coal supplies dried up from Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL) mines as operation stopped at 8 of its 10 mines after Talcher police slapped prohibitory orders Section 144 in the town following a violent incident last week. Mining operation and despatching through rail and conveyor belt came to a halt following the orders.
The Section 144 was slapped to contain escalation of violation in the area by the supporters of MLA Braja Kishor Pradhan, who was arrested on Saturday in connection with the Friday's incident. Talcher is the key coal producing region of the state and is home to the biggest coalfield of India, with nearly 35 billion tonne deposits. Spread over 500 square kms, the region sends nearly 100,000 tonne coal to Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and other parts of India daily besides the state-based thermal power plants.
Though the power generation at NTPC's Kaniha super thermal power station was also hit due to coal supply problems, later it has managed to secure some supplies from MCL's mines in Ib valley sector to tide over the crisis.
"We have received 40,000 tonne coal from other mines of MCL out of our total need of 50,000 tonne daily. But power generation is still at around 1,500 Mw, much less than 3,000 Mw produced earlier," said a spokesperson of NTPC Kaniha plant. The TSTPS supplies about 520 Mw power to state grid network. Because of the current scenario, the state is getting 260 Mw less than the agreed supply quantity. State-run bulk power purchaser Gridco said, the loss in supply would be covered by higher hydro power generation and limited winter demand.
"We are currently getting 260 Mw less power than the stipulated amount. But we have sufficient hydropower currently and getting supplies from newly set up GMR stations. Since power demand is currently lower due to winter season, these generation cuts would have no effect on power supply to the state grid," said P K Pradhan, commercial director with Gridco.
As per power purchase agreement with NTPC Kaniha unit, Gridco is entitled to get 31 per cent of its first unit comprising 1,000 Mw capacity and 10 per cent of 2,000 Mw capacity of second unit.
Data from State Load Despacth Centre (SLDC) showed that power distributing companies are now drawing about 2,240 Mw due to winter season, much less than summer season demand, when drawal goes up to 2,900 Mw on daily basis.
Private producers such as GMR Kamalanga, which recently commissioned its second unit, has started supplying power to the state grid and hence, the generation problems at NTPC need not affect the overall power supply of the state, Pradhan added.