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‘Poor monsoon and coal crunch affecting thermal power projects’

‘The hydel projects are not doing well due to deficient monsoon hence pressure on thermal projects,’ Goyal said here.

According to latest official data, northern region is facing over 5,000 MW of power shortage due to coal stocks drying up. Several parts of south and central Mumbai on Tuesday faced massive power outages after a unit of Tata Power's Trombay plant, which primarily supplies to the city, tripped.

Meanwhile, the Power Minister on Tuesday met officials from five states — Maharashtra, Gujarat, Haryana, Rajasthan, Punjab — which are facing power crisis. These states are procuring power from Adani Power's 4,620 MW thermal power plant and Tata Power's 4,000 MW ultra mega power project both at Mundra, Gujarat.

The five states are facing power crisis as the two companies have shut down some units of their power plants. Tata Power, which shut some units at it plant last week, had done so due to a technical glitch.

Tata's Mundra project supplies power to Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana and Punjab and Adani Power's supplies electricity to Gujarat and Haryana. Last Monday, the Supreme Court had stayed the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity’s interim order allowing compensatory tariffs for the two Mundra projects. These projects have been impacted by change in Indonesian coal pricing policy.

Following a change in Indonesia's coal-price regime in 2011, both Tata Power and Adani Power had approached Central Electricity Regulatory Commission seeking relief, which allowed them to charge higher tariffs from the state utilities as compensation for the costlier fuel.

The state discoms challenged this order before the appellate tribunal which directed them to pay compensatory tariff for March to May in six installments.

The discoms moved the Supreme Court against the appellate tribunal's decision. The two companies are believed to have sought the central government's intervention for resolving the issue of compensatory tariff from their power plants in Mundra.

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