Northern region staring at a power crisis

NTPC says six of its power plants are facing a huge coal crisis, due to which operations might run at less than half the capacity

A day after western India saw a massive power-generation capacity shutdown, NTPC shut units at four of its power plants in Uttar Pradesh, Adani Power shut one unit in Rajasthan and Reliance Power shut its Rosa plant, owing to which the northern region was staring at a power crisis.

NTPC officials said about 1,300 Mw of capacity was shut across the Rihand, Dadri, Singrauli and Badarpur power plants due to a coal shortage. The company informed the Centre six of its power plants were facing huge coal crises, due to which operations at its plants might run at less than half the capacity.

While the Anil Ambani-promoted Reliance Power said a 300-Mw unit of Rosa plant was shut on Thursday due to maintenance work, Adani Power shut its 660-Mw unit in Kawai, Rajasthan.

The Northern Regional Load Despatch Centre said, “High demand prevailing in the northern region reduced availability. Please remain alert.”

Officials said Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, already reeling under a supply crisis from the western grid, overdrew power from the northern grid, leading to a demand-supply gap of 5,572 Mw during peak hours.

The northern grid caters to Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Uttakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir and Chandigarh.