BHUBANESWAR: Another major power crisis stares at Odisha as all the thermal power generating stations including the Ib Thermal Power Station (ITPS) of the State owned Odisha Power Generation Corporation (OPGC) are facing acute shortage of coal.
With a combined generating capacity of 1740 mw, the four units of OPGC are getting less than half of the daily coal requirement from the Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL).
Though OPGC has been awarded the Manoharpur and Manoharpur dip side coal blocks for its stage-II power plants of 2X660 mw, it has got bridge linkage to meet the daily requirement from Lakhanpur mines of MCL till operationalisation of its coal blocks.
“OPGC is getting around 10,000 tonne of coal as against its requirement of 24,000 tonne daily. The corporation is forced to run the four units at low plant load factor (PLF) resulting in loss of revenue and short supply of power to the State,” sources in the company said.
The first two units having generating capacity of 210 mw each need 8,000 tonne of coal daily while the two units under stage-II having installed capacity of 660 mw each require 16,000 tonne on a daily basis.
As per data available from the State Load Despatch Centre (SLDC), power generation from OPGC-I (1 & 2 units) and OPGC-II (3 & 4 units) during the morning peak hour was 282 mw and 902 mw respectively. Power generated from ITPS is directly pumped into the State grid as Gridco procured the entire power for consumption in the State.
OPGC has a long term fuel supply agreement with MCL for supply of coal from Lakhanpur open cast mines for its first two units. Under bridge linkage, MCL is required to supply coal of about 4 lakh tonne every month to the 3rd and 4th units.
“We have been facing shortage of coal for over a month. Though the State Government had taken up the matter with MCL authorities several times, there is no improvement in the supply situation,” a senor officer of OPGC said.
MCL sources said there is a fall of coal production due to prolonged monsoon and some external conditions which are beyond its control. With local people agitating over land acquisition issues, over burden removal (OBR) activities for smooth function of mining is not possible. Such issues can’t be tackled by MCL alone, it added. OPGC is a 51:49 joint venture company of the State Government and US-based energy major AES.