CHANDIGARH: Haryana is facing a power crisis with the start of the summer season for its over-dependence on the private sector.Adani Power and Coastal Gujarat Power(CGPL) is not supplying committed power as per the power purchase agreements for the last 7 to 8 months.
Now Haryana utility has petitioned the regulatory commission (HERC)for the purchase of 1000 MW power from the market to meet the shortfall in supply as both Adani Power and CGPL have not been supplying a1800 MW power to the state on the plea that the increase in prices of imported coal has made generation at the power purchase agreement (PPA) tariff uneconomical.
They are demanding new rates from the government on the lines of Gujarat.
V K Gupta Spokesperson All India Power Engineers Federation said that both power utilities UHBVN & DHBVN entered into two power purchase agreements ( PPAs) in July 2008 with Adani Power for a supply of 1424 MW for 25 years from the Mundra plant in Gujarat through dedicated Mundra-Mohindergarh HVDC Line..
Similarly, Tata's CGPL Mundra is also not supplying committed 380 MW of power since September 2021. To make the matter worse, 600 MW unit no. 2 of Khedar thermal plant unit no. 2 is not available for generation from September 2020. The Khedar plant was built by Reliance with Chinese equipment.
The Steering Committee for Power Planning (SCPP) on 13th. March this year decided to procure 1000 MW of power from other sources on the yearly basis and has now sought the permission of HERC. This year the maximum demand anticipated by the utilities is 12489 MW in July,11783 MW in September and 10825 in June and August.
People are feeling the pinch of scheduled and unscheduled power cuts of various duration in cities at the start of the summer season, especially during night hours. In smaller towns, the position is even worse. Normally most of the outages are not brought into the public knowledge. During, the daytime rural feeders do not supply power for 8 hours to avoid the danger of fire during wheat harvesting due to sparking.