CHANDIGARH: Ongoing paddy sowing season on Monday pushed power demand in Punjab and Haryana to cross 12000 MW and 9000 MW respectively today. In Punjab the maximum power demand on Monday has been recorded at 12406 MW and in Haryana, it was 9750 MW.
in Punjab, two units of the Ropar thermal plant and three units of Lehra Mohabatt are generating power. Powercom engineers claimed that the third unit of Lehra Mohabatt could not be lighted up during the night as engineers are at work to rule agitation and the same was lighted up today morning. At Ropar shortage of staff is posing problems in lighting up additional units. The maximum gross generation in the state was 5150 MW.
State thermal units are generating over 1000 MW and private generators are generating over 2800 MW. Besides this, solar power is supplying about 500 MW of power during day time. Hydro generation was around 800 MW. The state drew a maximum scheduled power of over 7150 MW from the northern grid. In the private sector, both units of Rajpura thermal, two units of Talwandi Sabo, and one unit of GVK Goindwal is generating power. Another unit of GVK has been lighted up in the afternoon.
The power supply in the state mainly depends upon its own generation along with the scheduled drawl limit. On Sunday the power supply was 2632 lakh units.
In adjoining, Haryana power demand has also crossed 9700 MW, an increase of more than 900 MW from Sunday's maximum demand of 8839 MW. Today both thermal units at Yamunanagar and 2units of Panipat thermal are generating power. One unit of 1200 MW Khedar thermal is under shut down due to a major turbine problem and the other unit is under shut down on no demand. At Jhajjar, both units of CLP are generating power. On Sunday the power supply in the state was 1855 lakh units.
With the rise in power demand, the number of power outages in Punjab and Haryana are increasing, particularly in rural belts and small towns.