Kejriwal writes to PM; power plants have 1 day stock; Govt says situation will improve soon
Delhi is staring at a blackout situation due to an acute coal shortage and just one day of coal stock is left to keep the power plans operational, the Delhi Government has said. Power situation is Punjab is also precarious due to shortage of fuel for the plants.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking his attention and intervention to the coal shortage that has affected the power generation.
Meanwhile, the Union Power Ministry has said the coal supply situation is likely improve soon. Officials said that increase in demand of electricity due to revival of economy, heavy rains in coal mine areas, increase in price of imported coal are responsible for supply crunch.
Kejriwal tweeted, “Delhi could face a power crisis. I am personally keeping a close watch over the situation. We are trying our best to avoid it. In the meanwhile, I wrote a letter to the PM seeking his personal intervention.”
The letter to the PM reads, “I draw your attention to the prevailing coal shortage situation that is continuing since August/September 21 for the third month in a row, which has affected the power generation from the major Central Generating plants supplying power to NCT of Delhi.”
“The coal stock situation depleting in power generating stations, the dependence on gas stations supplying the power to Delhi increases. But, even the gas station supplying power to Delhi does not have adequate APM gas to run at full capacity. If the situation continues, it would severely impact the power supply situation in Delhi.”
Meanwhile, Tata Power Delhi Distribution Ltd (DDL), which operates mainly in northwest Delhi, has sent the SMS (message) to its customers asking them to use electricity judiciously, referring to the ongoing issue.
The SMS stated, “Due to limited coal availability in generation plants across north, power supply scenario between 2 pm and 6 pm is at
critical level. Kindly use electricity judiciously.”
Meanwhile, Delhi Power Minister Sateyndar Jain called a high-level meeting to discuss possible solutions to the crisis.
“The whole country is facing a crisis due to which power plants are unable to function properly. All the power plants that supply electricity to Delhi are supposed to keep a 30-day reserve stock but at present they have only 1 day’s stock left. The demand for electricity in the country is not at ‘peak yet, the power plants are not able to produce the required amount of electricity. The power plants are not functioning at 100 percent capacity,” Jain said.
“Even the hydroelectric power plants are not running at their full capacity. Very little electricity is produced in Delhi. Delhi does not produce electricity using coal. The maximum power supply in Delhi is purchased from power plants located outside Delhi. Most of the power is procured from the Central Government’s NTPC, where coal reserves have to be kept for at least one month, which has come down to only one day,” added the Delhi Delhi Power Minister.
