The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Power generation with naphtha in A.P.

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Wednesday, Jan 02, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Power generation with naphtha in A.P.

Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD: With the demand for power rising steeply, AP Transco has begun to use naphtha to operate three private power plants and stepped up purchases from traders in the open market.

Temporary switchover

A temporary switchover to naphtha has been done in the case of Lanco, GVK and Spectrum projects as they are “combined cycle plants” with the facility to use this costly fuel whenever there is a shortage of gas.

Further, they can store naphtha in sufficient quantities to last two to three weeks. A senior official of AP Transco said the three power stations were being run to their full capacity.

Dry spell

Also, in line with the tenders finalised recently, AP Transco is now purchasing nearly 5 million units from Reliance and Power Trading Corporation. The demand-supply gap has widened in the State due to a sudden increase in agricultural load following a dry spell and also an upswing in demand from the domestic sector due to rise in day temperatures.

Power shortage

The shortage is also attributed to the restrictions imposed by the Government on generating power from Srisailam and Nagarjunasagar projects except during release of water for irrigating crops.

The generation from Srisailam and Nagarjunasagar, tumbled to 17 mu from a peak of 62 mu during monsoon. On Monday, only 177 mu (million units) of energy could be supplied from all sources against the total demand of around 185 mu.

The AP Transco official said Srisailam had a storage of 189 tmc ft, which is equivalent to 1,042 mu, and Nagarjunasagar 74 tmc ft (equivalent to 410 mu).

The utility would be forced to continue use of naphtha and purchase power from outside as water in the two major reservoirs is being retained for use in the summer months.

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