Brace for power cuts! Kejriwal sounds alarm over power crisis
In view of the ongoing coal crisis in the country, Delhi Power Minister Satyendar Jain called a high-level meeting on Saturday.
All the power plants that supply electricity to Delhi are supposed to keep a 30-day reserve stock but at present they have only 1 day’s stock left, he said. Delhi may face a blackout if the supplies are not resumed at the earliest, the Minister said.
“Delhi could face a power crisis. I am personally keeping a close watch over the situation. We are trying our best to avoid it. In the meanwhile, I wrote a letter to PM seeking his personal intervention,” Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Twitter.
Several media outlets have reported about it. Tata Power arm Tata Power Delhi Distribution Ltd (DDL), which operates mainly in northwest Delhi, has sent the SMS (message) to its customers, a source said, as reported by PTI.
The SMS sent on Saturday stated: “Due to limited coal availability in generation plants across north, power supply scenario between 2 pm to 6 pm is at critical level. Kindly use electricity judiciously. Be a responsible citizen. Inconvenience caused is regretted – Tata Power-DDL.”
Meanwhile, BSES Rajdhani and BSES Yamuna, Capital’s other power distributors, reportedly have sufficient amount of fuel and will ensure smooth electricity supply. So no message has been sent from their side till now.
In this meeting, the officials of the power department and all the energy companies were called and discussed the possible solutions to this crisis.
Jain said: “The whole country is facing a coal crisis due to which power plants are not able to function properly. All the power plants that supply electricity to Delhi are supposed to keep a 30-day reserve stock but at present they have only 1 day’s stock left.
“The demand for electricity in the country is not at peak yet, the power plants are not able to produce the required amount of electricity. The power plants are not functioning at 100 per cent capacity. They’re all functioning on minimum levels. Even the hydroelectric power plants are not running at full capacity, if they are run at full capacity at least in peak hours, it will be a huge relief.
“Very little electricity is produced in Delhi. Delhi does not produce electricity using coal. The maximum power supply in Delhi is purchased from power plants located outside Delhi.
“Most of the power is procured from the central government’s NTPC, where coal reserves have to be kept for at least one month, which has come down to only one day.”
The Delhi government appeals to the central government to arrange railway wagons and transport coal to these power plants at the earliest and ensure coal reserve of at least one month, he said.
Along with this, all the power plants of the country should be run at their 100 percent capacity.
He said there are 3 power plants in Delhi and the amount of electricity that can be produced from them will be produced by the Delhi government, irrespective of the rate. The Delhi government is trying to fulfil the power supply in Delhi by purchasing power by any means and at any rate. NTPC is providing only half of its committed supply to the Delhi Government. The Delhi Government is procuring electricity on the spot to avert the crisis at expensive rates. The Power Minister further said he wonders whether this crisis is man made because neither the coal power plants are getting supply nor the gas ones. Yesterday the gas supply of the Bawana Power Plant was suddenly stopped by the Centre.
