Power situation in Andhra Pradesh has further worsened with the supply-demand gap crossing a whopping 50 million units (mu) per day resulting in widespread load shedding, impacting all sections of consumers including industry in the state.
While thermal power stations continue to operate at a lower PLF (plant load factor) on account of coal supply disruptions due to the strike in state-owned Singareni coal mines, constraints in enhancing the output in gas and hydel stations have put the state in a tight spot. This is despite the energy department working overtime to buy additional power from outside the state at up to Rs 5 per unit.
In a latest development, power utilities have started drawing 100 Mw from Lanco's merchant gas power plant, which is otherwise committed to Tamil Nadu. “This amounts to breach of supply agreement entered into with the Tamil Nadu government by Lanco. Therefore, we will be paying a penalty of Rs 1 per unit to our counterpart in addition to the price of Rs 4.20 per unit we pay to Lanco towards power purchases,” a senior official of the state power utility told Business Standard.
Despite such efforts, APTansco is able to supply only about 225 mu of power a day as against the grid demand of over 275 mu, according to official information. Power utilities are already imposing a 4-hour cut on domestic supply in Hyderabad, 2-day power holiday in a week on industries, and up to 8 hours of load shedding in rural areas.
There are reports of drying up of crops in thousands of acres under well irrigation across the state as the power supply to the farm sector has also been severely affected ever since the strike began 20 days ago.
GMR’S VEMAGIRI UNIT
On the other hand, the forced outage of GMR’s 350-Mw Vemagiri unit last month has added to the loss of power generation from gas-based units, which are also operating at a lower PLF on account of gas shortage. The unit is expected to get back into business only by the end of this month, according to officials.
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It may be recalled that the state government had requested the Union petroleum ministry to divert natural gas to other gas power projects enabling them to run at higher PLF in view of the current power scenario in the state.
However, the ministry rejected the request on the grounds that it had the mandate to ensure natural gas supplies for generating power at up to 75 per cent PLF, an official said. The ministry though has offered RLNG (regasified liquefied natural gas) to the state, which has about 600 Mw installed capacity lying idle for want of gas.
“The problem is two-fold. GAIL offered to supply 15 mmscmd (million metric standard cubic metre per day) of RLNG at $13 per MBTU under a long-term price regime, which itself is very high compared with $4.2 per MBTU we pay for natural gas. This quantity would be barely sufficient for ten days. It said we will have to pay $23 per MBTU thereafter as per the spot RLNG prices,” a senior government official said while explaining the difficulties in accepting the above offer.
The state utilities are currently generating about 119 million units a day while the rest is coming from various sources, including private players, central generating units and additional purchases.
Pro-Telangana outfits, meanwhile, have accused the state government of reducing the hydel generation to the present 39 mu from the peak of over 60 mu only to ensure water for second crop under canal irrigation in the coastal Andhra region at the cost of kharif crop of Telangana farmers.
According to APTransco, thermal power stations, which are in operation, are running at 72 per cent PLF as against the targeted 81 per cent in a bid to preserve the available coal stock. NTPC’s Ramagundam thermal power station, which supplies power to the entire Southern grid, is generating 1,520 Mw as against the installed capacity of 2,100 Mw. However, NTPC’s 1,000-Mw Simhadri Phase-1 project in Visakhapatnam is running at 100 per cent PLF to meet the shortage, the officials said.