Amaravati, October 12, 2021: Confirming the worst fears, power utilities have started imposing power cuts in rural areas and are planning for load-shedding in urban areas in a phased manner.
The government admitted the situation was grim and it might get complicated in the coming weeks. The state had emerged as power surplus after bifurcation thanks to the presence of thermal power plants that could meet the entire demand.
However, the situation slipped into crisis since the TDP government’s move to sign power purchase agreements with private solar and wind power players and the subsequent decision of the YSRC government to suspend the PPAs.
Sajjala Ramakrisna Reddy, advisor to the state government, appealed to people to get ready to face power cuts due to severe shortage in coal supplies to thermal power stations.“The situation on the power generation front is really serious and we are making every possible effort to bail us out of the crisis. However, it does not appear to be an easy task,” said Sajjala on Monday.
Power purchases in the open market have resulted in massive burden on power utilities in the state. Experts say the state government’s decision to depend on open market purchases in view of low prices during off-peak season has led to the crisis with sudden jump in market prices according to the reports published in timesofindia.indiatimes.com.
The AP Transco had reduced power purchases from thermal plants and instead gone for spot purchases from power exchanges citing low costs. The Transco claimed it had saved over Rs 2,300 crore in the last fiscal through such dynamic purchases from the market.
However, it resulted in the closure of several plants that could have been a dependable source unlike power exchanges that are facing severe fluctuations.
The sudden jump in power prices in the exchanges has forced the Transco to again switch to thermal power stations. However, by the time it set its focus on generation from thermal plants, coal stocks were exhausted.
“We can run the plant only when we have stocks for one week,” said Dr N Srikanth, CMD, Transco. He said the Transco has been purchasing nearly 30 to 40 million units of power from open sources at nearly Rs 15 per unit.
