Indravati Hydro Power Station is under-utilised because of flood in the river Hati

Power shortfall continues
Expressbuzz, July 18, 2009

BHUBANESWAR: Despite improved hydro position in all the reservoirs, the State continues to have a shortfall of about 300 mega watt (MW) of power due to low generation of thermal energy.


While the average hydro power generation of the State was about 400 MW two days back, now it has gone upto 900 MW during off-peak hour and 1,200 MW during the evening peak, thanks to heavy downpour during the last couple of days.

However, the current shortfall of power is because of low generation from the thermal power stations dedicated to the State, captive generating plants and reduced share from the Central pool, sources in the State Load Despatching Centre (SLDC) said.

The power position in the day time is very comfortable, but there is a shortage of about 300 MW during the evening peak when the demand is around 2,900 MW, the sources said.

Three thermal power units, one each of Ib Thermal Power Station (ITPS), Talcher Thermal Power Station (TTPS) and NTPC-Kanhia are out of the grid for nearly a month due to technical problem. The net shortfall from the three units is about 380 MW. Besides, the first unit of NTPC-Kaniha is providing 117 MW as against 180 MW and the NTPC manadarin blames it on the poor quality coal.

TTPS has already informed SLDC to take scheduled shut down of fifth unit immediately after resumption of power generation from the sixth unit which is currently under routine maintenance, a senior OPTCL officer said.

With a generating capacity of 600 MW, Indravati Hydro Power Station is under-utilised because of flood in the river Hati. If all the four units of the hydro power station will be operationalised, more water will be released into the river system and that may cause more flood in the downstream of Hati river. The Kalahandi district collector has instructed the OHPC not to optimise generation during the evening peak.

In normal situation, the average availability from the captive generating plants (CGPs) is about 600 MW. Today’s availability from the CGPs was about 200 MW. The Central share of power for the State has also come down from 800 MW to 600 MW because of low generation from the Central power stations.

Power regulation has been restricted to four hours in the evening in view of the improved hydro power position, the sources said.

NOTE: The flood in Hati river has a solution where the Government has not yet invested to solve this problem since past deacade.