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Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has flagged the shortage of coal at power plants that meet the electricity requirements of the national capital.
In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Kejriwal said, “Adequate coal may be diverted from other plants to plants like Dadri-II and Jhajjar TPS, which are supplying to Delhi.”
He also suggested that Administered Price Mechanism (APM) gas may be allocated to plants like Bawana, Pragati-I and GTPS supplying power to Delhi. Adequate quantity of NAPM gas should be supplied to power stations in Delhi, he added.
Kejriwal also recommended a cap on the price at which power can be sold on the electricity exchange. “Maximum rate of power sold in any slot through the exchange, currently at Rs 20 per unit, may be suitably capped to discourage profiteering by traders/ generators from the current crisis.”
He said these measures are essential to maintain uninterrupted power supply in Delhi. Meanwhile, in a late evening development, the Petroleum Secretary Tarun Kapoor, responded that all required quantity of gas will be supplied to the Bawana and Pragati stations.
Also, NTPC has been directed to increase coal stocks equal to the national average for Dadri and Jajjhar stations and to give full availability. It was also noted that Delhi discoms are not scheduling power from Dadri I as they want to exit PPA after 25 years.
They have been advised to schedule power, official sources said. Power discom Tata Power Delhi Distribution Ltd had earlier cautioned that Delhi may have to go through intermittent rotational load shedding in coming days due to coal shortage across the country.
The discom has reportedly started sending SMS to its customers urging them to use electricity judiciously. Meanwhile, citing data from the Central Electricity Authority, Kejriwal said that the prevailing coal shortage situation has been continuing since August/September 2021 for the third month in a row.
This has affected the power generation from the major Central Generation Plants supply power to the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi.
According to CEA data referred by Kejriwal in his letter, NTPC Dadri-II, Jhajhar, and DVC (CTPS) have a single day of coal stock. Singrauli has four days' stock, while Mejia has stock that cannot even last a day. Kejriwal also said that there is a significant shortfall in the availability of natural gas for the PPCL-I and GT power plants.
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