Punjab’s power utility has started planning for the paddy season six months in advance, because it failed to meet this year’s requirement for 15,000 megawatts and 2022’s estimate is 16,000 MW.
Its failure to meet the requirement this year forced power cuts on all categories of consumers, inviting mob attacks on the power grids and the gherao of officials for the promised eight hours of supply to the agriculture sector for irrigating the paddy fields. Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) is having trouble tapping into the power exchange and other outside sources as well as maintaining sufficient coal stock in the thermal power plants.
A senior official in the PSPCL said: "The two state-run power plants at Ropar and Lehra have 10 days of coal stock and the central government is not sending more coal to the plants of that status. The IPPs (independent power producers) in Punjab also have limited coal stock. The Pachwara coal mines linkage allocated to the PSPCL is yet to be operational and it is also below the capacity of the government’s thermal power plants."
The state government has terminated its PPA (power purchase agreement) with GVK Goindwal Sahib, one of three IPPs. The 90 days of termination notice period will end by January 26 and the state then run short of 500 MW of electricity during the paddy season next year. The notice for tariff cancellation and renegotiation with the other two IPPs is also out. Enhancing transmission capacity is also a challenge for the PSPCL, since it can import a maximum of 7,300 MW from the northern grid, while its in-house operation capacity is 6,840 MW, of which it might lose GVK’s 500 MW in the coming season.
This April, before the paddy season, the PSPCL had sought enhancement in total transfer capacity/available transfer capacity (TTC/ATC) from Northern Regional Load Despatch Centre (NRLDC) for importing power through the northern grid. The ATC/ TTC limits were 6,600 MW and 7,200 MW, respectively. The centre enhanced the limit but also requested the corporation to maximize the generation at 220-kilovolt level during the high-load conditions in Punjab for safe grid operations and meeting higher load.
Earlier, the PSPCL had failed to install 1,000 MVA 

nterconnected transformers (ICT) at 400-KV systems in Ropar and Dhanasu and add 500 MVA capacity each at the Makhu, Rajpura, and Amritsar ICTs, besides 185 MVA at Nakodar. It has critical shortage of cables, poles, and transformers, besides regular staff. Confronted, PSPCL chairman and managing director Baldev Singh Sran said: "We have started planning for the paddy season 2022. We will take up the matter of coal shortage with the central coal ministry to build up stock."