Breather as Punjab can divert coal to pvt thermal plants
Once implemented, the decision can cut the electricity production cost by up to 75 paise per unit
PATIALA : A Union government’s June 3 directive allowing diversion of coal meant to run stateowned plants to private thermal plants can come as a breather for Punjab as it can bring down the power generation cost by up to 75 paise per unit.
The state government has been consistently raising this demand before the central ministries concerned, besides taking up the matter with the Prime Minister.
Punjab now has the flexibility to shift its coal linkage of stateowned plants to private thermal plants. The state-owned power plants have 90% of coal linkage of their generation capacity, while private thermal has 75%. Private thermal plants purchase coal from outside to meet the demand and high cost jacks up the power generation rate.
Elated over the development, Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd. CMD A Venu Parsad said he has already asked officials to work out modalities and place an order for coal at the earliest.
Parsad, who was pursuing the matter for about a year, said, “From coal, the savings will be around ₹300 crore, but the additional benefits such as the cut in the fixed cost will run into several hundred crores of rupees during implementation.”
According to the Union government letter, the states can also use their aggregated linkage coal i.e. aggregated annual contract quantity (AACQ) in the power plants which were established through competitive bidding. The bids for Nabha Power Limited (NPL) and Talwandi Sabo Power Limited (TSPL) of 1,400MW 1,980MW capacity, respectively, were based on the Net Heat Rate and the power generated from such power plants is supplied to the state itself.
However, the state government has also put a rider for implementation, as per which, during transfer of the linkage coal by the state, it may be ensured that these plants are more cost-efficient vis-à-vis the state-owned plants to save on power purchase cost.
A PSPCL engineer said it’s a win-win situation for the government, independent power producers (IPPS), consumers and the PSPCL. “The state has surplus coal as the governmentrun plants remain idle for almost eight months a year. The PSPCL was vigorously raising the issue with the Centre since 2017. Once implemented, it will save at least 75 paise per unit of power production cost,” he said.
Pertinently, not only the opposition Aam Aadmi Party, even the Congress leaders are raising a hue and cry over the PPAS with the private thermal plants which cost the government thousands of crores and the burden rests on the consumers. The Congress in its manifesto had promised to revise the PPAS.