Bright hope

Patna, April 14: The Bihar government’s decision to buy 500MW from the open market might save the state, at least the capital, from plunging into darkness because of the closure of National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) units at Kahalgaon and Farakka.

The state started purchasing power from the open market in March. Since then, this is the first time that a shutdown has been announced in any NTPC plant.

The Unit 3 at Farakka, which generates 200MW, has been shut down for annual maintenance (for 35 days) since April. On the other hand, Unit 7 at Kahalgaon, which generates 500MW, was shut down because of coal shortage for three days. Officials hoped that supply to the state might not be affected in the capital as the state electricity board has been allocated about 85MW from the two plants out of a scheduled allocation of 1,833MW from the central sector. Bihar receives 50MW from the NTPC’s Farakka unit 3 (200MW) and 35MW from its Kahalgaon unit 7 (500MW).

“We received a little over 1000MW from the central sector on Saturday afternoon. The scheduled allocation is 1,833MW. At present, there is no power crisis-like situation. Besides, the board is getting 450MW of the 500MW purchased from the open market,” Bihar State Electricity Board spokesman H.R. Pandey told The Telegraph.

“The state on Friday received 1200MW from the central sector, besides 450MW that it purchased from the open market,” he added.

The unit 3 at Farakka has been shut down for over a month for annual maintenance, whereas coal shortage has tripped generation at the plant number 7 in Kahalgaon, sources said. “Even if there is a crisis because of the shutdown at the two plants, it will not be serious because the quantum of allocation from both the plants of NTPC is very low,” a source said.

Chief minister Nitish Kumar has been vociferous in his demand of 50 per cent share of power for Bihar generated by plants located in the state. Recently, the Centre allocated 50 per cent of power to Bihar from the Barh (phase II) plant of NTPC. It generates 1,320MW (660MWx2) and would be commissioned by the end of 2013-14. But the Centre has not given any assurance to the state on share of power generated by the Kahalgaon plant.

The state electricity board has entered into two agreements with NTPC, Vidyut Vyapar Nigam Ltd and Adani Power for supply of 300MW and 200MW each respectively from March. Adani Power would supply power to the state till December 2015, whereas NVVNL would supply 300 MW till August this year.