Two thermal power plants down, power crisis in Andhra and Telangana

Hyderabad: Nearly 1200 mega watts worth of power, lost on account of snags at the VTPS (Vijayawada Thermal Power Station) and KTPS (Kothagudem Thermal Power Station),  has affected both, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, resulting in unscheduled power cuts to both the regions.

The loss of power generation was on account of coal shortage as well as technical snags at a few units due to the usage inferior quality coal.

The total power generation by APGenco was 49 million units (MU)  and that from TGenco was 36 MU on Monday.

Seven units of the two power projects have been down since Monday and on Tuesday  even  thermal production reduced to 1200 MW or more from 900 MW on Monday.

The total energy deficit in both the states  has crossed 4MU currently.

Meanwhile, the city has been facing two to three hours of unscheduled power cuts for the past two days without warning.

The situation will take a couple of  days to be brought under control at the least say officials.

The industrial sector, meanwhile, is facing  two-day cuts in addition to the unscheduled cuts.

The sudden plunge in power generation is due to technical snags at the two  major power stations. The breakdowns have come in quick succession after the critical breakdown at VTPS earlier last month.

“Five units of the VTPS are down due to technical problems and our team is currently working on the units. While the KTPS, which has three units, has completely  shut down. There was a loss of 1200 MW or more on Tuesday itself,” said a senior official.

Meanwhile, the impact of the huge power deficit  has hit both the states with most areas experiencing “emergency power cuts” for hours together.

Most areas in the twin cities are facing a two hour unscheduled cut, while the situation is worse in other parts of both the states touching four to five hours of unannounced cuts.

“The deficit is more in AP  and therefore the impact is more severe in AP districts. However,  in most rural areas in both states, there are severe power cuts,” said an official from SRLDC (Southern Region Load Dispatch Centre).

Meanwhile, Several thermal power generating units in Andhra Pradesh  are producing power far lesser than their full capacity.

Shortage of coal and its poor quality has hit power generation in all major thermal power generation units.

According to officials, Naarla Taata Rao, VTPS Rayalaseema Thermal Power Project (Muddanuru), KTPS (Kothagudem), and central organisations like Simhadri Thermal Power Station and  KTPS, Bhupalapalli power generation units  also fail to produce full capacity  of  power generation.

Seven units of NTTPS, Ibrahimpatnam, with a capacity of 1,720 MW, produce  only 1,200 MW.

Five units of the Rayalaseema Thermal Power Project  produce only 500MW power against the full capacity of 1,050 MW.

According to officials,  the NTTPS uses 28,000  tonnes of coal every day for full generation. It needs 10 racks of coal stock every day but presently, it is receiving only seven racks.

Meanwhile, all the thermal power generation units are facing problems with poor quality coal from local mines.

The power generation units need 6000-Gas Calabic Value  (GCV) coal for full production, but, presently, all use only 3000 GCV local coal from  Singareni Mines.

“This  is one of the reasons for rising interruptions,” said APSPDCL Vijayawada  operation circle, S.E. Krishna Mohan.

NTTPS chief engineer Sammaih said the shortage of coal is a main hurdle in power generation.
Officials maintaining the power cut schedule, are planning to increase  the tariff  soon.