Orissa's power shortage may get a relief

Orissa to get 150 Mw from NTPC for a month
Business Standard, July 2, 2009

Orissa is likely to get 150 Mw more from the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) for a month in addition to 270 Mw promised by the state-owned generator to the state earlier.

The Union minister for power, Sushil Kumar Sindhe has issued necessary direction to NTPC to this effect.

Earlier, Orissa chief minister Naveen Patnaik had requested Sindhe to provide additional power to the state to help it tide over the acute power crisis.

Meanwhile, the Gridco chairman and the managing director (CMD) C J Venugopal left for New Delhi to hold discussion with the NTPC officials on this matter.

“We expect to get the offer letter from NTPC within a day or two and the consent letter will be sent after that. We are trying our best to get this power at the earliest”, a senior official associated with the process said.

Though the hydro power generation in the state has hit the rock bottom, the power availability has marginally improved with Vedanta Aluminium (VAL) starting supply of power from it captive generation plant (CGP) to the state grid following the government intervention.

The company supplied 100 Mw yesterday and this is expected to increase to 150 Mw today and may further increase to 200 Mw after a couple of days. By 12 noon today, the CGPs of different industries located in the state contributed about 377 Mw to the state grid.

Similarly, National Aluminium Company (Nalco) has been asked to increase its power supply to the state grid.

It may be noted, the state is yet to get the promised 270 Mw from NTPC due to some technical objections raised by the Eastern Region Load Despatch Centre (ERLDC).

Meanwhile, the state government intends to extend the order issued under section 11 of the Central Electricity Act, 2003 directing all the CGPs to maximise their respective generation and inject power to the state grid till 15 July, sources added.