CESC Ltd, with an average Plant Load Factor (PLF) of 62.97 per cent, led the power agencies in the eastern region in capacity utilisation during the last decade.
CESC is followed by the three eastern region power plants of the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) with an average PLF of 53.18 per cent while the West Bengal Power Development Corporation which has only one operating power station at Kolaghat came third with a PLF of 52.89 per cent.
The Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) is in the fourth position with a dismal average of 37.21 per cent. CESCs performance suffered some fluctuations in the 11-year period. It was, however, an impressive 50 per cent climb from 50.64 per cent in 1987-88 to 76.79 per cent in 1995-96. But, there was a small decline to 73.63 per cent in the very next year.
More From This Section
NTPC (eastern region) has also experienced a wide fluctuation in its performance with the maximum PLF of 80.4 per cent in 1994-95 and the minimum PLF of 29.48 per cent in 1986-87. After a steady improvement in PLF, the NTPC plants, however, are showing a decline in the last two years with the PLF recording at 57.52 per cent in 1995-96 and 46.31 per cent in 1996-97.
In case of Kolaghat station also, the last two years have been bad with the PLF recording 56.31 and 56.49 per cent respectively. NTPC has been burdened by unsatisfactory performance by its three eastern region plants on most of these 11 years. It was only once in the year 1994-95 that the eastern region plants recorded a better PLF of 80.4 per cent compared with the corporations national average of 76.57 per cent.
In 1996-97, the corporations national average of 79.2 per cent could have been much better but for a poor 46.31 per cent PLF of its eastern region plants. But then, NTPC has to blame itself for some of this low PLF in the east. It had deliberately cut generation to regulate supply to its eastern region consumers who had been heavily defaulting in paying bills.
Moreover, the NTPC plants in the east have to often back down their generation for lack of demand in the region and limited scope of export outside the region.
DVCs performance has been consistently bad in these 11 years. Its best PLF of 41.89 per cent gives an idea of the state of affairs at DVC. The lowest PLF was 32.25 per cent in 1991-92.
DVC has indeed lost some potential generation due to demand constraint in the region and the priority in generation claimed by NTPC. But, its generation would have remained well below 50 per cent even if the plants could generate without constraint.
During the decade, the all India average PLF was 57.24 per cent. The highest of 63 per cent was recorded in 1995-96 and the lowest, 53.2 per cent, in 1986-87. The all-India PLF average pattern has been showing a slow but more or less steady performance. Despite setbacks, the PLF showed basically an upward trend during the 11 year period.