Possible power crisis looming: Jain writes to Centre, seeks intervention
Our Correspondent
New Delhi: A possible shortage of coal in power plants that supply electricity to the Capital which if not dealt with on an immediate basis can become problematic to the government, Delhi Power Minister Satyendar Jain said on Thursday, writing to the Centre to act in time.
As the country reels under a coal shortage, Jain asked the Union government to intervene so that enough coal is routed to the power plants supplying electricity to the Capital.
The Minister said that if steps are not taken in time, there may be problems in round the clock power supply in Delhi Metro and several city hospitals.
The Dadri-II, Unchahar, Kahalgaon, Farakka and Jhajjar power plants supply 1,751 MW of electricity per day and the city gets the maximum supply of 728 MW from Dadri-II Power Station, while 100 MW from Unchahar Power Station. Due to the disruption of power supply from the two power stations, there may be a problem in providing 24 hours power supply to many essential institutions, the government said in a statement.
The limited stock of coal at the NTPC's Dadri-II and Jhajjar (Aravalli) power plants which have been established primarily to meet the power requirement in the city are facing a shortage. According to the daily coal report of the National Power Portal, Dadri-II has a day's worth of coal stock left, Unchahar power plant has two days' worth of stock left. The Kahalgaon plant has 3.5 days' worth of stock left while the Farakka plant has five days' worth of stock left and Jhajjar (Aravali) has a week's worth of stock left, the Power Department said. The Minister said that presently, 25-30 per cent of the electricity demand in the city is being met by the two power stations, which are facing a coal shortage.
Jain added that the Delhi government is closely monitoring the situation and is making every possible effort to make sure that people do not face power outages.
Thus, he said the Delhi government had appealed to the Centre to intervene in the matter.
Meanwhile, as temperatures in the city reach record highs, the power demand on Thursday soared to above 6,000 MW — a first for the month of April, realtime data of State Load Dispatch Centre (SLDC) Delhi showed.
"For the first time in April, Delhi's peak power demand clocked 6,000 MW. It was 3.7 per cent more as compared to 5,769 MW on Wednesday afternoon," said a discom official.
The power demand of the city has scaled up by 34 per cent since the beginning of the month, officials said. The demand was 4,469 MW on April 1. The power demand is only likely to soar further during this summer, breaching the all-time high of 7,409 MW recorded on July 2, 2019. The peak power demand is expected around 8,200 MW this year which will be an increase of around 285 per cent over 2,879 MW in 2002, discom officials said.
