Punjab: As power demand goes up, PSPCL asks NPL to restart Rajpura plant

PATIALA: With the rise in the demand for power across the state, the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) has asked the Nabha Power Limited (NPL) to start power generation at the Rajpura thermal power plant, which had been closed down following the lockdown in the last week of March.
The partial operationalisation of the industry and the commercial establishments coupled with the rise in temperatures, has flipped the power demand in the state which till recently was not more than 3000 MW a day. The demand has now gone up by almost 4000 MW and is hovering around 7000 - 7900 MWs.
In order to meet the demand, which is nearing the stats of corresponding days from the previous year, The PSPCL asked the NPL to restart the plant almost after 57 days. While one of the units of the Rajpura Thermal Power Plant has been put back into action, the second unit is under technical maintenance. The three units at Talwandi Sabo and two units at GVK Goindwal are yet to be revived. The Talwandi Sabo thermal plant has not been generating power since March 7 while the Rajpura thermal plant stopped generation on March 28.
All thermal units at Ropar and Lehra Mohabbat thermal plants are also under shutdown and are likely to be brought back into action only during the peak paddy season when the demand crosses 12000 megawatts. They supplied power for some time in January this year. The plant load factor of Ropar and Lehra Mohabatt thermal plants is 6.33% and 5.81% respectively for the month of January this year.
As on Saturday, the Power demand in the state had touched 7816 MW forcing the power corporation to meet the demand with a supply of then 1700 lakh units (LU). The power supply on Saturday comprised of 71 LU from Rajpura thermal, 214 LU from Hydro units and 1340 LU from central sector units.
It may be mentioned that Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd. (PSPCL) on March 29 had invoked force majeure clause of the power purchase agreement (PPA) against the private thermal plant generators in Punjab following load crash in the state after the declaration of locked down in the country to save fixed charges.