Power crisis in state continues

LUCKNOW: Power crisis continued to prevail in the state on Tuesday, leading to emergency load shedding in cities and villages.

The fresh crisis has resulted from a decline in availability of power from various sources while the peak demand continued to be around 20,000-21,000 MW, a source said.

“We are not able to import 1500 power from the southern grid due to some technical issue with the transmission line concerned while the production at the state’s thermal plants is also down due to coal shortage,” a UPPCL official said.

The UPPCL is resorting to additional power cuts everywhere, including in Bundelkhand, to cope with the shortage that is around 2,000 MW. “However, we are trying to supply 24 hours power to big cities and district headquarters,” the official said. Public outcry at the continuing power crisis is also evident from Energy minister Shrikant Sharma’s Facebook page that abounds in power woes complaints from the followers. Minister of forest and environment Dara Singh Chauhan too complained about prolonged load shedding in his constituency. He wrote a letter to Sharma last week drawing the latter’s attention to the problem.

PPA APPROVED

Meanwhile, the UPERC on Tuesday approved tariff and power purchase agreements (PPAs) for procurement of 500 MW solar power by UPPCL/ state DISCOMs on the petition jointly filed by UPNEDA and UPPCL.

The capacity of approved solar projects ranges from 20 MW to 140 MW and the approved tariff rates range from ₹3.17 per unit to ₹3.23 per unit which, according to the commission, is the lowest power procurement price approved by the commission for solar projects.

“This will not only reduce the overall power purchase cost of the discoms but will also help UPPCL in meeting its renewable purchase obligation (RPO) and the state in harnessing the potential of solar power,” UPERC secretary Sanjay Singh said.