BHUBANESWAR: Even as the people have got relief from power-cut till December 31, the State Government has made arrangements to procure power via the power banking route from some northern and north-eastern States to tide over its ongoing peak power crisis.
“The State is getting 100 MW of power from Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited (TPDDL) from November through power banking arrangement and it will continue till April 2016. Punjab has agreed to provide 46 MW from April/May next year through similar agreement,” Minister of State for Energy Pranab Prakash Das said.
While Arunachal Pradesh Power Corporation Private Limited (APPCPL) has agreed to provide 200 MW of power during the summer months, another 200 MW will be available from Punjab to meet the evening peak demand. The Punjab Power will be available through APPCPL under power banking route from December 6, 2015 to May 15, 2016, the Minister said.
Gridco, the State-owned power trading utility, has been procuring additional 80 MW of power from GMR Energy over and above the State normal share of 150 MW from September to meet the shortage.
The Minister said Vedanta has been requested to provide additional 150 MW from its Jharsuguda thermal power plant to the State. The company has dedicated a unit (600MW) of its 2400 MW power plants for the State.
Gridco will return 105 per cent of the procured power to the States from where it is getting power through power banking arrangements from July next year, sources in the trading utility said.
The State Government was in talks with West Bengal for supply 50 MW of power but the deal has not been finalised yet.
The State is banking on independent power producers like Ind-Barath Energy and Monnet Power whose power projects are likely to be commissioned soon. Ind-Barath has synchronised the first 350 MW unit of its proposed 700 MW coal-fired thermal power plant at Sahajbahal near Jharsuguda.
Earlier, the Government had announced to re-impose load-shedding from November 15 after the festive season is over. However, it deferred its plan on power-cut till December end due to fall in energy demand. While the average demand of the State has declined from 3700 MW to 2700 MW, the peak hour demand has come down to 3600 MW from 4000 MW.