In light of persistent power outages caused by uncontrollable factors, the State government has urged the Central government to allocate power to Odisha from the unallocated share of other states until August 15th.
In a letter addressed to the Secretary of the Ministry of Power, Nikunja Bihari Dhal, the Secretary of Odisha Energy Department, highlighted the significant changes in the state’s demand and availability of power due to various uncontrollable factors. These factors include an unprecedented heatwave, low levels of hydro reservoirs, and the outage of NTPC’s Darlipali Thermal Power Plants.
As a result, Odisha is projected to face a shortfall of over 400 MW in power supply. Additionally, the state will require a substantial amount of power during the Rath Yatra period.
Currently, Odisha has a base load requirement of approximately 4,700 MW, with a peak requirement of around 5,400 to 5,600 MW due to the ongoing heatwave conditions, representing an 8% increase.
Dhal further emphasized that the state’s hydro generation can only meet about 11% of the average power demand due to the low reservoir levels. As a result, Odisha will heavily rely on purchasing power from the market starting from June 17th.
Considering these factors, the Energy Secretary requested an extension of the allocation of 450 MW of Round-the-Clock (RTC) power to Odisha from the unallocated share of other states.
In response to the state’s request, the Ministry of Power has informed Odisha that it has been allocated 200 MW each from the unallocated quota of the Southern and Western Region pools.
The state is required to sign or extend Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) and enter into commercial arrangements while maintaining the necessary Letter of Credit (LC) for the allocated power.
The Ministry of Power has instructed the state to implement the allocation immediately for a period of 10 days, with notifications sent to all concerned parties.
Prasanta Patnaik