Hyderabad: Telangana state will have to purchase power next year too, as works on the 1080 MW Bhadradri and 4,000 MW Yadadri thermal power plants are held up with the National Green Tribunal (NGT). The state will continue to face shortage of 2,000 MW in 2017. There will be no power cuts as the southern and northern power distribution companies (discoms) will buy power from private producers to ensure 24x7 supply.
Experts said purchase of power at a higher cost from private producers and the delay in construction of thermal power plants would result in cost escalation. “The additional expenditure will have to be borne by the consumers. TSGenco is trying to set up thermal power plants in haste. There is no planning. It should work out a long-term plan carefully as environmental norms have become stricter,” said Mr M. Venugopal Rao of the Centre for Power Development.
Though the Union environment ministry gave in-principle appro-val for a 4x270 thermal power plant at Manu-guru, popularly known as Bhadradri power plant, it has been delay-ed and may be commissioned by December 2017 or early 2018, provided the environmental committee gives its approval by November end. The fate of the Yadadri plant still hangs in the balance. The appraisal committee of the environment ministry pointed out several lacunae in the environment impact assessment report submitted by TSGenco.
Though there is 750 MW installed capacity of solar energy, it is not reliable in all seasons. The same goes for hydel generation. Human Rights Forum secretary (Nalgonda) G. Mohan said the forum had been approaching NGT because environmental norms are being thrown to the wind. “We are not against development but it should not be at the cost of human lives and environment,” he said.
TSGenco chairman and managing director D. Prabhakar Rao said Telangana state would become power-surplus before the end of 2018. “Bhadradri and Yadadri power plants are behind schedule. This happens in projects of this kind and size. We have made power purchase deals for 2000 MW and are prepared to meet even 9000 MW peak demand,” he said.
Power soon from Chhattisgarh:
The much awaited Wardha-Dichpalli-Maheshwaram 765 KV transmission line is likely to be completed by January next. Power Grid Corporation executive director V. Sekhar said that the line will allow TS to get 1,000 MW power supply in the first phase and another 1,000 MW in the second. He said that Wardha-Dichpalli double circuit transmission corridor would be functional by mid-January. “We are expecting it to be commissioned in January. This corridor will help Telangana procure electricity from Chhattisgarh. After its completion, the corridor can supply around 2,500 MW of power to the southern region,” he said.
To get power from Chhattisgarh, two sub-stations at Dichpally in Nizamabad district and Maheshwaram near Shamshabad are being constructed. Work on the 400 KV sub stations at Maheshwaram and Nizamabad was almost complete.
