Delhi "Somehow Handling" Grave Power Crisis: Arvind Kejriwal

The Delhi government on Friday flagged an "acute shortage" of coal, claiming many power plants are left with a day's stock and warning supply disruptions in the city while Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said the situation was being handled somehow.

The chief minister called for quick and concrete steps to tackle the crisis facing the country.

Talking to reporters, Delhi Power Minister Satyendar Jain said there is an "acute shortage" of coal due to the unavailability of an adequate number of railway rakes and warned there may be "difficulty" in electricity supply if power plants are shut.

Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission(DERC) held an emergency meeting with various power agencies and announced various steps to mitigate the situation.

In a reply to the Delhi government's coal shortage claims, the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) said in a tweet that currently the Unchahar and Dadri power stations, supplying electricity to the national capital, are running at full capacity and receiving "regular" coal supplies.

"All six units of Dadri and five units of Unchahar are running at full capacity and receiving regular coal supplies. Present stock is 1,40,000 MT and 95,000 MT respectively and import coal supplies are also in pipeline, NTPC tweeted.

However, Mr Kejriwal claimed the power situation in the whole of India is very grave.

"There is a huge shortage of power in the country. So far we have managed it somehow in Delhi. The situation is very grave in the whole of India. Together, we soon need to find a solution. Quick, concrete steps are required to tackle this problem," he tweeted.

The NTPC, in another tweet, said, "Currently Unchahar and Dadri stations are declaring more than 100 per cent rated capacity to the grid. All units of Unchahar and Dadri are running at full load except Unchahar unit one, which is under annual planned overhaul." Amid a deepening coal shortage, the Delhi government on Thursday had warned that there may be a problem in providing an uninterrupted electricity supply to important establishments in the city, including Metro trains and hospitals.

The DERC, after a meeting with discoms and other agencies, said, "Power crisis expected to be arising out of current coal shortage and spurt in short-term power prices." To mitigate power crisis and safeguard the interest of consumers and distribution licensees, DERC, as an interim measure, allowed intra-discom banking facility, overlapping of banking and bilateral transactions, pass-through of additional deviation and sustain deviation charges with immediate effect.

The interim measures will remain in effect till July 31, the DERC statement said.

Jain said the main reason for the "huge shortage" of coal was the lack of an adequate number of railway rakes. Instead of increasing the number of railway rakes, it has been reduced from 450 to 405, he said.

The minister also claimed that power plants, including Dadri and Uchahar, had only a day's stock of coal that usually should be for 21 days.

He also denied any pending payments of Delhi to the Centre for coal supply.

Jain had held an emergency meeting to assess the situation and wrote to the Centre requesting it to ensure adequate coal availability to power plants supplying electricity to Delhi.

Sources said the Delhi government may scale up electricity generation at its gas-based power plant with a 1,500 MW capacity. However, the cost of gas could be a restrictive factor in doing so, they said.

Delhi receives 1,751 MW of power each day from Dadri-II, Unchahar, Kahalgaon, Farakka and Jhajjar plants. It gets the maximum supply of 728 MW from the Dadri-II power station, and 100 MW from the Unchahar station, the Delhi government had said earlier.

The peak power demand of Delhi has been shooting up with maximum temperature reaching record levels.

The city's power demand peaked at 6,050 MW at 11.17 PM on Thursday. Discoms expect the peak power demand of Delhi to be around 8,200 MW in the coming months.