No relief from powercuts,plants shut down for overhaul

“We had to shutdown five units,of which Bakreshwar and Kolaghat generated more power. The shutdown led to a shortfall of nearly 500 MW on Thursday but things were better today,” said Mahapatra. He further said their 22 units undergo annual maintenance repair work during this period,which caused the shutdown of couple of their units and it would go on till August.

“We have to finish our maintenance work before September as the demand peaks from then due to the Pujas. Moreover,this is the time that the rains set in and we usually get around 400-500 MW of power from hydro power plants which takes care of a lot of our demand,” he said.

Power Secretary Sunil Mitra said the two units that had to be shutdown due to overhauling would soon be running and the situation was expected to get better. “The situation was bad on Thursday but is better today.

Unfortunately,the overhauling process takes time but it has to be completed before the Pujas which is why there has been load-shedding throughout the state. I feel that the WBPDCL’s maintenance operations need to be improved and we are working with NTPC engineers on it.”

Another reason being forwarded for the power crisis in the state is the delayed monsoon this year.

“Many of the plants are down as they are being overhauled and some have developed technical glitches and tube leakage. Although they are being repaired but this is causing massive shortage,” said a senior officer of West Bengal State Electricity Development Corporation Limited.

“Moreover,had we been able to buy power from other states the situation might have improved,but with the delayed monsoon other states too are facing similar crises and none are ready to sell power,even at extra cost,” the officer added.

He further added that the problem would get worse in future and may lead to a rise in the price of electricity per unit. “Today afternoon there was a shortage of nearly 400 MW including around 300 MW from ours and around 90 MW from CESC,” he added.

Meanwhile,the CESC officials said their demand during the evening peak hour was around 1,361 MW and there was a shortage of around 130 MW.