The Hindu : Karnataka News : Crisis at RTPS may cause power shortage

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Dec 20, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka

Crisis at RTPS may cause power shortage

By D.K. Kishan Rao

RAICHUR, DEC. 19. The State is likely to face a power shortage in the coming days due to failure of the Government in strengthening the financial position of the State-owned Karnataka Power Corporation Limited (KPCL).

The State had in the past suffered from power shortage during summer, when the storage levels at the hydel sources start receding.

Some Governments made efforts to bridge the gap between the power generation and its demand to some extent by purchasing surplus power from neighbouring States.

It is feared that the State is likely to face severe power shortage in summer as it is felt that the Government is not seriously thinking about meeting the financial requirements of the KPCL.

The KPCL needs adequate funds to make arrangements for continuous procurement of coal during summer in order to maintain normal power generation from its thermal plant at Raichur till the onset of monsoon.

Financial problems

The Raichur Thermal Power Station (RTPS), the only thermal power station in the State, has been facing financial problems since the new coalition Government assumed power in the State. Since the past 20 days, the KPCL has been facing severe financial crunch owing to failure of the Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Limited (KPTCL) in releasing funds against the power purchased from it.

The KPTCL draw powers generated by the KPCL both from the hydel and the thermal sources, which has a total installed capacity of 4,420.50 MW, including 1,470 MW from the thermal plant. Together, it has the generating capacity of about 65 million units (mu) of power a day.

Cut in payment

According to sources in the RTPS, the KPTCL used to release Rs. 80 crores a month as against the purchase of power worth Rs. 150 crores. But since the past six months, it was reduced to Rs. 50 crores a month. Presently, the KPTCL owes more than Rs. 1,500 crores to the RTPS.

The RTPS is in need of a minimum of Rs. 100 crores a month to procure the coal required by the plant and other administrative expenses, including salaries to its employees. Now a drastic reduction in the release of funds from the KPTCL has affected the RTPS.

Since past 20 days, the RTPS has been facing difficulties in procuring coal, a major fuel component to operate the thermal units. It needs about 21,000 tonnes of coal to operate all the existing units. Earlier, it was maintaining a ground stock of about one lakh tonnes of coal in addition to the daily arrivals of about 30,000 tonnes to 40,000 tonnes. Now the daily arrivals had been limited to 16,000 tonnes.

Cut in power generation

The KPCL convened a meeting in Bangalore on Friday in which it found out that only about 30,000 tonnes of coal was available at the RTPS, which would not suffice to operate all the existing units. The thermal plant could not be operated to its full capacity unless there is an improvement in the coal procurement.

However, it could not be done in the present financial constraints.

Finally, it was decided to bring a reduction in power generation at the thermal plant by shutting down some of its units and operate other units with a reduced capacity so as to overcome the coal procurement problem.

As a result of which the RTPS authorities were forced to shut down the first unit of the RTPS on Friday last and operating other six unit by limiting their existing capacity to 160 MW a day.

Review meeting

The sources told The Hindu that a high-level meeting of the KPCL engineers was expected to be held in Bangalore in a day or two to review the power supply situation in the State.

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