BHUBANESWAR: With a sudden fall in demand of electricity following a good spell of monsoon rains, the state government has stopped buying 400 MW of additional power from the central pool. The peak power demand of the state which had crossed 5,800 MW mark on some days before the onset of monsoon on June 22 came crashing by nearly 800 MW from June 24 under increased rain activity.
“The Ministry of Power had allocated 400 MW - 200 MW each from the southern and western region pools - from June 17 for 10 days to meet the unforeseen demand of the state. With adequate availability of power from own sources and state’s share from central sector, there was no need to buy additional power from the southern and wester region pools,” informed sources in the government said.
Had the state continued its dependence on additional power, it would have been required to sign power purchase agreements (PPAs) with the southern and western region power committees and open letters of credit (LCs) for the allocated power.
The power demand of the state had unusually gone up by eight per cent from its base load of 4,700 MW and peak requirement of 5,400 MW due to the unprecedented heat wave condition. The scheduled shutdown of one unit of Darlipali STPS for two months created additional shortfall of over 400 MW.
Improvement in hydro position in major reservoirs like Hirakud and Upper Indravati has allowed Odisha Hydro Power Corporation (OHPC) to step up power generation to meet the peak demands which are in the order of 4,800 MW and 5,200 MW respectively. Besides, the captive power plants within the state are supplying more than 1,400 MW during peaks hours.