PATIALA: The power demand in Punjab has declined by more than 3000 MW following rainfall during the peak summers and paddy season.
On Monday, the power demand hovered around 12000 MW whereas the demand has crossed 15000 MW in the last few days.
Sources revealed that the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) on Monday had shut down some of its units following the decline in power demand. At Ropar thermal power plant, only one of the four units available was running whereas at Lehra power plant all three available units were shut down. In the private sector, the two of three private power plants in Punjab were also running on reduced load.
On June 24, this year the PSPCL set a new record of supplying 3435 lakh units of power on a single day against the last year’s record of maximum power supply of 3344 lakh units on June 28. This is around 91 lakh units more than the previous record. On June 23 this year, the PSPCL also set a new record maximum power demand of 15325 MW whereas last year the maximum power demand was recorded at 14311 MW in Punjab.
As on Sunday, the coal stock at state run power plants including GGSSTP Ropar have 41.8 days coal stock and GHTP Lehra Mohabbat was having 23.8 days stock. The Ropar power plant recorded 88.98 percent as cumulative Plant Load Factor (PLF) of last three days whereas Lehra power plant have 78.27 percent cumulative PLF of last three days. As on Sunday, the three private plants including TSPL (660 MW *3), NPL (700 MW*2) and GVK (250MW * 2) were having 6.6 days, 34.7 days and 4.7 days of coal stock respectively.
Notably, the 920 MW capacity Guru Hargobind Thermal Plant (GHTP) Lehra Mohabbat (210 MW * 2 and 250 MW* 2 units) can produce 220 LU of power per day however a 210 MW unit of Lehra power plant has been shut since May 13 last year following breakdown of ESP system.
