BHUBANESWAR: Low water level in all the major reservoirs and technical snags in three thermal power units have triggered a power crisis in the State. The State is facing a shortfall of about 700 MW as against its average demand of 2,700 MW. The power shortage during the evening peak on Tuesday was 1,650 MW against a demand of 3,300 MW. Thus, Gridco has been regulating power to the four distribution companies, which, in turn, have resorted to drastic power cut. The twin cities of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack have been spared from load shedding while rest of the State are facing power cut at regular intervals. As the Water Resources department has imposed restrictions on release of water from the reservoirs for power generation, there is a sharp fall in the availability of power from hydro sources. The average availability of hydro power on Tuesday was 700 MW. Outage of three thermal units __ one each of Ib thermal, NTPC and Talcher Thermal Power Station (TTPS) __ from the grid has further deepened the crisis. While one of the two units of Ib thermal station having 210 MW capacity each was shut down three days ago due to technical problem, the second unit is running under low plant load factor (PLF) because of poor quality coal, sources said. As 500 MW unit of NTPC-Kaniha is under annual maintenance, the State is losing its share of 150 MW from the national thermal power major. The breakdown of a TTPS unit, having generating capacity of 60 MW, has further worsened the power position, sources added. Though Sterlite Energy of Vedanta has dedicated 600 MW units for the State, the unit is able to generate only about 200 MW due to some technical reasons. Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL), which was supplying 110 MW from its captive power plant, has stopped generation since Monday due to some unknown reasons. At a time when the State is facing power crisis, the Central sector has reduced the allocation of power. The net drawal from the Central pool was 560 MW.
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