Date:29/06/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/06/29/stories/2008062950390100.htm

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Power supply critical; Transco opts for naphtha

Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD: The power situation in the State turned critical on Saturday due to a variety of reasons, including poor inflows into the reservoirs, forcing the AP Transco to use costly fuel of naphtha again to operate two power stations at full capacity.

As many other States too are in the queue to buy power, Andhra Pradesh is not able to get any big help from traders like Power Trading Corporation, Jindal and Adani. In spite of a high price offered by the State, they are hardly able to supply 4 million units (mu) a day.

As a result of nil inflows, there is no improvement in the storages of Srisailam reservoir. And with the operation of Srisailam hydel stations during peak hours, even the existing storage got depleted. Now, only 6.8 tmcft of water is available in the reservoir for generation which is equivalent to 37 mu, hardly sufficient for a week.

High cost

The Transco is able to use only a half of the available capacity of the Lanco (Kondapalli) and Reliance Energy (Samalkot) projects due to gas shortage. Under the circumstances, it opted for naphtha to bring the rest of their capacity to use, though the cost with this fuel worked out to Rs 11.6 per unit.

The rain that lashed parts of the State, however, offered some relief to the Transco by reducing demand to 161 mu on Saturday. But the power utility struggled to meet this even after imposing supply cut for more than four hours on rural areas.

K. Vijayanand, joint managing director, Transco, said, “We are passing through difficult situation but we are doing our best to save it.”