CHANDIGARH: The full paddy season is yet to begin on June 20, but the power demand today breached last year’s maximum record of 15325 MW during the first phase of paddy transplantation.
Today on Thursday, the maximum power demand of Punjab touched 15379 MW , the highest in this season, with the states own generation was around 6200 MW and drawl from the northern grid was around 8900 MW. On Monday before the start of the paddy season the maximum demand was 12600 MW, now on the third day an increase of over 2500 MW has been noticed. The agriculture load in the first phase is around 1500 MW.
As per PSPCL officials the power supply in Punjab on Wednesday was 2709 LU with maximum demand of 14794 MW. On Wednesday the thermal supply from states own plants was 401 lakh units (LU) , and from Rajpura and Talwandi Sabo the supply was 724 LU .In the first 12 days of June PSPCL has supplied 29298 LU against last year's supply of 20898 LU last year during corresponding period. The increase in supply by PSPCL in the first 12 days of June is 8400 LU , an increase of over 40%.
As for coal stock, the Ropar , Lehra Mohabbat and Goindwal thermal plants have reserves for12, 24 and 24 days, respectively. The private sector thermal plants in Rajpura have coal stock for 24 days, followed by Talwandi Sabo 4 days .
The water level in hydro plants’ reservoirs is in a better position compared to the period last year. The Bhakra reservoir’s water level stands at 1, 584 feet , which is 13 feet higher than last year’s level of 1, 571 feet on the corresponding day. The water level at Ranjit Sagar is 506.7 metres, reflecting an decrease of over 4.7 metres from last year’s level of 511.4 metres.
Last year in June PSPCL met record maximum demand of 15325 MW and supplied a record 3435 lakh units on June 23. The maximum power demand of over 16500 MW can be expected in the last week of June when full paddy load will be there.