Chandigarh: While pressure mounts on the Central Government over coal shortage, Punjab Congress Chief Navjot Singh Sidhu also flagged the same on Sunday. Sidhu took to Twitter raising alarm bells said that Punjab must prevent and prepare, rather than repent and repair. He also urged for penalising private thermal plants floating guidelines and to aggressively work on solar Power Purchase Agreements (PPA)s.
"Punjab must prevent & prepare, rather than repent & repair… Private Thermal Plants floating guidelines, punishing Domestic Consumers by not keeping Coal Stock for 30 Days should be penalised. It is time to aggressively work on Solar PPAs, & roof-top solar connected to the Grid!" Sidhu wrote on a micro-blogging platform.
Amid the looming power crisis, Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi on Saturday urged the Union Government to shortly bolster the state's coal supply as per quota to overcome the crisis with the impending shutdown of its thermal plants owing to fast depreciating coal reserves which are likely to be over within two days, as per reports.
Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd (PSPCL) pointed out the inadequate stock as the reason for imposing rotational three to four hour load shedding at several places in the state. PSPCL said two units each at Talwandi Sabo power plant, Ropar plant and one unit at the Lehra Mohabbat, 475 MW plant have been closed, reports said.
Arvind Kejriwal also wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi regarding the same. "I am personally keeping a close watch over the situation. We are trying our best to avoid it," Kejriwal said.
However, the Ministry of Coal said the country has adequate coal stocks and low inventory does not mean generation will stop as stocks are being continuously replenished. Meanwhile, power producers and distributors issued blackout warnings as generation units are running with coal stocks of less than two days.
Apart from this, Tata Power has halted power generation despite contracts to supply 1,850 MW of electricity to Gujarat, 475 MW to Punjab, 380 MW to Rajasthan, 760 MW to Maharashtra and 380 MW to Haryana from its imported coal-based power plant at Mundra in Gujarat, reports said. "We have stopped generation at Mundra as high cost of imported coal is making it impossible to supply under present PPA terms," a Tata power spokesperson said.
The power crisis emerged after the deadly second wave of Covid-19 while the Indian economy started picking up. Over the last two months, electricity consumption jumped almost 17 per cent in the last two months in comparison with the same period in 2019. The global price of coal also witnessed an uptick of 40 per cent and India's imports depreciated to a two-year low, reports said.
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