Punjab CM asks power corpn to cancel or revisit all one-sided PPAs

CHANDIGARH: Chief minister Amarinder Singh on Wednesday ordered Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) to cancel or revisit all the “one-sided” power purchase agreements (PPAs) with private companies that are not contractually obligated to supply sufficient power to meet the state’s peak demand during the paddy sowing and summer season.
Amarinder has taken a serious note of fiasco relating to Talwandi Sabo Power Limited (TSPL), Mansa – one of the largest private thermal plants in the state, which “miserably failed to perform” in the current paddy season.
"The CM has directed PSPCL to revoke its PPA, which is “heavily biased in favour of the company,” said an official spokesperson of the state government.
He has also asked PSPCL to examine all the PPAs signed by the erstwhile SAD-BJP government with the various Independent Power Producers (IPPs), which were established basically to meet the power demands of the state especially during paddy sowing and summer season.
He has directed PSPCL to terminate/revisit all the lopsided PPAs that are not beneficial to the state.
The chief minister noted that PSPCL had signed 14 PPAs with thermal or hydro plants and 122 long term PPAs with solar/biomass plants after 2007, to make the state power surplus with generation capacity of around 13800 MW.
However, in this current paddy season, all three units of TSPL failed to generate power for a few days during the peak paddy season.
One unit of TSPL failed completely to operate from March 2021, and two units remained out of power generation for the last one month, he said.
At present, only one unit of TSPL is operational, he said, adding that these factors have caused a huge power shortage in the state.
PSPCL has already issued notice to TSPL by imposing the penalty but as the PPAs are one-sided, the penalty imposed will be meagre in comparison to the losses caused by the failure of these thermal plants.
Further, as per the provisions of the PPAs, at present, it is not compulsory for the IPPs to supply power during peak summer/paddy period. Hence, taking advantage of the loopholes in PPAs, the IPPs are claiming full fixed charges from PSPCL by supplying power in the off-season when the state requires it the least.