CHANDIGARH: Baldev Singh Sran who took over as CMD Punjab State power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) on June 6 this year has shown leadership which has been missing in power sector and the results are astonishing.
He managed the critical power system of the state in a commendable manner during the paddy season maintaining 8 hour supply for agriculture sector despite less hydro generation available from BBMB and without going in for short term power purchases. The other major achievements are MoU for operationalisation of Pachhwara coal mines and go ahead for Shahpur Kandi Project.
During paddy season PSOCL was able to meet the maximum power demand of 12638 MW on July 10 in comparison to 11705 MW of previous year. PSPCL supplied 2749 lakh units of energy within Punjab state on August 4 highest so far during a day and in addition sold 6 lakh units in power exchange on that same day. This is despite the fact that there has been a less hydro generation to the tune of 350 MW from BBMB and PSPCL’s own hydro projects .
PSPCL did not go for short term purchases this year which has been a routine and was able to save Rs. 600 crore. Last year PSPCL spent 615 crore on short term purchases.
PSPCL has succeeded in reviving the tie-up with a coal mine in Jharkhand to run the state-run thermal power plants by getting cheap fuel. Letter of Award (LOA) has been issued after successful completion of transparent reverse tendering with lowest quoted rate of Rs. 840 per MT on August 8. Operationalization of Pachhwara Coal Mine would result in saving of about Rs. 600 Crore per year with an annual linkage of 7.0 Million Tones . The coal mine remained operational from March 2006 to March 2015 but was cancelled by Supreme Court. After re-allotment there were litigations and finally fresh Global Tender Enquiry was floated on April 30.
An agreement has been signed for restart of construction activities of 206 MW Shahpur Kandi Power Project : between Government of Punjab and J&K . It will provide balancing reservoir to enable the up-stream Ranjit Sagar Dam Project power station to act as a peaking station, besides having its own generation capacity of 206 MW and irrigation benefit to Punjab and J&K states. After the commissioning of project 1182 million units of additional green power would be available. Direct benefits worth Rs. 850 crore annually would be possible .
Another area of thrust has been digital payments as has been promoted in a big way. Percentage of revenue collected through digital mode during June to August has increased to more than double than the corresponding period of previous year.
In August 2018 , Rs. 1430 Crore out of total Rs. 2656 Crore i.e. 53.84%, has been received through Digital modes. This is highest collection through Digital modes in country in a single month.