Environmental action group Greenpeace in a report said five power companies lost revenues of about ₹2,390 crore between January and May due to lack of water.
Due to water scarcity, the companies had to shut down their operations, which resulted in a loss of seven billion units of electricity. Public sector companies such as NTPC and Mahagenco of Maharashtra Government were the worst hit.
Out of the total loss ₹2,390 crore, Mahagenco alone has taken a hit of ₹1,585 crore due to the shutdown of its Parli plant. National power company NTPC had to shut the Farakka plant causing a ₹391-crore loss.
Greenpeace on Thursday published the report on water shortages threatening coal-based power company revenues.
Senior research consultant Jai Krishna told media persons that Mahagenco’s Parli power plant was built at a cost of thousands of crores of public money. In the last three years, the plant has been shut down intermittently due to recurring water shortages, he said.
The report said that NTPC’s Farakka plant in West Bengal has lost generation of 1.1 billion units while in the case of Adani Power’s Tiroda plant in Maharashtra, the loss is estimated at 570 million units, which is about ₹200 crore loss in revenue.
Equity analyst with Equitorials Jai Sharda, who vetted the Greenpeace report, said that lenders and shareholders are exposed to increased financial risk with over 50 GW of new coal power plants being planned in areas of high water stress. Projects of listed companies such as NTPC, GMR, Lanco, Adani Power and Reliance Power are at risk, he said.
Krishna said that if a 1,000-MW coal power plant is forced to close down for as little as 15 days in a year due to water shortage, then it faces an annual loss in revenue of nearly ₹150 crore.
The report added that given the precarious water situation in large parts of India, generating electricity from coal requiring significant quantities of water is a clear financial risk multiplier.