The tripping of three power units at power generating stations that triggered a new round of power shortages is the 15th such tripping this year, indicate official sources. The delay in setting the problem right is due to the department’s inadequate technical know-how. The electricity department has given no assurances that the power situation will improve, and it doesn’t look likely with each of the previous trippings taking between 15 days to two months to be rectified.
Citizens have to put up with three hours of scheduled cuts every day and some areas in the city such as Neredmet and Hakimpet saw four-hour cuts at a stretch on Wednesday morning. In February the state lost about 1,000 MW of power due to technical problems in four different power units at the Simhadri NTPC and the Kothagudem thermal power plant. In June, 700 MW were lost due to technical snags in two units of Simhadri NTPC. In July again, two units of the Rayalaseema Thermal Power Plant and Simhadri NTPC each developed sna-gs that took roughly two months to be attended to.
The state lost roughly 800 MW during the period. Also, the Bhupalapalli 500 MW thermal unit remained shut due to technical problems for around one and half months earlier. The state lost 500 MW of power due to the tripping of two units of the Vijayawada Thermal Power Station in May this year. Also minor snags that took 2-3 days to be repaired were reported.
The state is suffering from loss of production due to depleting coal stocks (which was mentioned in the five-point programme developed by the energy department) at most power units which have coal stocks sufficient for only less than three days. “The technical problem takes time to repair as there is a shortage of highly skilled staff. Nothing can be assured about when the snag can be corrected. Coal stocks are also running low at most units; at some they are around two days (of stocks), but at others, it is a real hand-to-mouth situation. It is impossible to maintain stocks as per prescribed norms,” said an official.
Moreover, the energy de-partment had made unrealistic calculations about the availability of power to the state, which did not materialise. The state had expected that with the commissioning of Kudan-kulam and Neybeli Lignite Corporation by August, 300 MW and 75 MW from these units will be diverted to the state. This again did not materialise.