GUWAHATI, Aug 13 � Rise in the ambient temperature due to a rainless condition has resulted in power shortage to an extent of around 150 MW, on an average, in the State during the peak-load-hour (between 6-30 pm and 11 pm) for the past about one week. This has forced the Assam Power Distribution Company Ltd (APDCL), a successor company of the Assam State Electricity Board (ASEB), to resort to load shedding for about four to five hours during the peak load hours.
During the corresponding period last year, the peak-load-hour power demand of the State was around 800 MW, and this year, the power demand has shot up by 25 per cent during the period. But the power supply has remained restricted to around 850 MW during the peak-loadhour.
Disclosing this, ASEB Chairman AK Sachan told The Assam Tribune that this shortfall could have been met had the Kathalguri Thermal Power Station of the North Eastern Electric Power Corporation (NEEPCO) and Kahalgaon Thermal Power Station of the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) been in good condition.
Problems plagued these power stations for the past several days. One 500-MW unit of the Kahalgaon plant is not running due to the problem it is facing in the supply of local coal. The plant uses a mixture of imported and local coals as fuel for generating power.
Power shortage has become a regular feature in many parts of the country these days and when approached for additional power, the Union Power Minister said that Assam is facing the least power shortage in the NE region, negating thus the plea for attaching top priority to the case of the State in this regard, said the ASEB chairman.
However, it is expected that the situation in Kahalgaon will improve shortly and this will help the State overcome its present power shortage.
According to official sources the Kathalguri unit of NEEPCO suffered from grid disturbance on the evening of August 11. It caused a problem in a steam turbine leading to a generation loss of around 30 MW in the power plant.
The State�s own power generation capacity is 353 MW if the installed capacities of the Assam Power Generation Company Ltd�s (APGCL�s) 133-MW Namrup Thermal Power Station, 120-MW Lakwa Thermal Power Station and 100-MW Karbi Langpi Hydel Power Station are taken into consideration.
However, in practice, both the Namrup and Lakwa thermal power stations are supplying between 160 and 170 MW of power during the peak-load-hour these days with the Karbi Langpi Power Station supplying 100 MW during the period, the sources added.
Going by its quota of power, Assam receives around 35 MW of power from the 600-MW Farakka Power Station, around 18 MW from the 840-MW Kahalgaon-I Power Station, around 50-MW from the 1000-MW Kahalgaon-II Power Station, around 22 MW from the 1000-MW Talcher Power Station of the NTPC.
It receives 107 MW from the 200-MW Kopili Power Station, around 12 MW from the 25-MW Kopili Stage-II Power Station, around 28 MW from the 50-MW Khandong Power Station, around 175-MW from the 405-MW Ranganadi Power Station, around 33 MW from the 75-MW Doyang Power Station, and around 38 MW from the 84-MW Agartala Gas Turbine of the NEEPCO. The State also receives another 26 MW of power from the 90-MW Loktak Power Station of the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC).
