Odisha to firm up 300 Mw through power banking

State's peak power deficit is 300-350 Mw; will draw power from some Northern states to bridge this gap

Faced with a peak power deficit of 300-350 Mw, Odisha is making all out efforts to plug the demand-supply gap. The state government is increasingly turning to power banking option to cater to its rising power demand.

"A few northern states have offered to supply us 300 Mw via power banking. We would be drawing power between November and June next year. The same amount of power would be returned to these states during the monsoon season when our water reservoir levels pick up", said Hemant Sharma, chairman cum managing director, Gridco Ltd, the state-owned power trading firm.

Sharma declined to disclose the names of the states since the deal was yet to be finalised. Official sources, however, said, talks were on with Punjab and Himachal Pradesh for an arrangement.

Odisha has already tied up 100 Mw power deals with Delhi and West Bengal, on the power banking mode. Both West Bengal and Tata Power Delhi Distribution Ltd are supplying 50 Mw each to the state grid. Tata Power is expected to scale up its supply to 100 Mw from November and continue supplies till June next year. Gridco would return 105 per cent of the procured power to the company from July next year.

Meanwhile, Gridco, has sought the nod of power regulator Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC) to buy power from captive generating plants (CGPs).

"We have filed petition with the OERC to buy power from the CGPs. Earlier, we had also written to the CGPs for procuring power", said P K Pradhan, director (commercial), Gridco.

Gridco wants to buy power from CGPs at a price of Rs 2.75 per unit. However, CGPs are insisting on supplying power at a rate of Rs 3.20 per unit or higher, a factor that could burden Gridco's finances by around Rs 400 crore.

Peak power deficit in the state was hovering around 500 Mw but of late, it has narrowed to 300 Mw after two NTPC units at Kaniha and Talcher Thermal have restarted operations. One unit of NTPC Kaniha (500 Mw) and the third unit of the maharatna PSU's Talcher Thermal plant were under annual maintenance and have resumed power generation from October 8. Odisha gets 150 Mw (as state share) from the Kaniha unit and 60 Mw from the Talcher Thermal plant.

Peak power demand in the state touched 3,900 Mw but availability from various sources was 3,600 Mw, leaving a shortfall of 300 Mw. Average power demand stood at 3,600 Mw.

The state's hydro power generation suffered due to deficient monsoons. Water levels at Rengali and Upper Indravati, the two key reservoirs, were below 60 per cent, hindering higher generation to plug power deficit.

The state is banking on independent power producers like Ind-Barath Energy Utkal Ltd (IBEUL) and Monnet Power whose coal based power projects are likely to be commissioned soon. IBEUL has synchronised the first 350 Mw unit of its proposed 700 Mw coal-fired thermal power plant at Sahajbahal near Jharsuguda.

Monnet Power is expected to put on stream two 525 Mw units (1,050 Mw) near Angul.