BHUBANESWAR: Even as reports of unscheduled power cuts are coming from different parts of the State, Gridco, the bulk supplier of power to distribution companies, claims that the power situation in the State is comfortable.
Frequent power cuts are reported from two industrial towns of Angul and Talcher. The two towns are the hottest places of the State with day temperature touching 43 degree celsius. Similar reports are coming from Western Odisha towns of Sambalpur, Jharsuguda and Sundargarh.
Asserting that the power situation is very comfortable, sources in the Energy Department said the sporadic power cuts may be due to some technical problems in particular localities.
The State Government has given strict instruction to the distribution companies to ensure uninterrupted power supply during the summer months, a senior official of the department said.
The Gridco sources said the State power trading utility is in a position to meet power demand up to 4,000 MW as against current peak demand of 3,850 MW. This is because of the good hydro position in all the major reservoirs.
While the average availability from hydro power stations is 600 MW, the State has the advantage to draw peaking power of about 1,400 MW during the evening peak when the demand goes up to 3,900 MW. The average power demand of the State is about 3,200 MW, sources in the State load dispatch centre said.
The NTPC-owned Talcher Thermal Power Stations (TTPS) and the State-run Ib Thermal Power Station are generating more than 800 MW as against an installed capacity of 880 MW.
While Sesa Sterlite’s Jharsuguda thermal power plant is supplying more than 500 MW, the State is getting about 200 MW from the GMR Energy’s Kamalanga plant in Dhenkanal district. Gridco is purchasing about 200 MW from other independent power projects (IPPs) and captive generating plants (CGPs) in the State.
Though the State’s share from the Central pool is about 1,000 MW, Gridco is drawing less power from the eastern region grid to save money. Power from the Central sector is costlier than the power supplied by CGPs and IPPs operating in the State, the sources said.