Orissa, once a power surplus state, is now facing serious power crisis owing to the breakdown of the Orissa Power Generation Corporation?s (OPGC) plant and low generation of electricity from hydro power stations due to bad monsoon. With assembly and general elections round the corner, the present government is desperate to meet the deficit. The state is now running short of nearly 400 mw. To tackle the situation, it is now looking towards various captive power plants.
?We have directed the Gridco to source power from captive plants,? said state energy secretary PK Jena. Gridco, which is keen on buying 500-mw to overcome the present crisis, is finding it difficult, as companies are reluctant to sell power to it. Given the market price this time, companies are eager to sell power in the national market instead of giving it to the state grid, which is offering a price as low as Rs 2 per unit. Companies have offers from states such as Karnataka, Haryana and Punjab which are keen to pay Rs 7 per unit. While Hindalco has shut down one of its four units, Jindal Stainless Ltd(JSL) has received an order from the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) to carry power from its captive plant in Orissa to its stainless steel facility at Hissar in Haryana. However, with the Orissa Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC) allowing a higher rate for residual power, captive plants are quite enthusiastic to feed the state grid. The OERC has fixed prices at Rs 3-3.50 per unit.
Following the OERC order, JSL is now pumping 60-mw to 65-mw to the state grid. The IMFA is feeding around 350 mw. ?We have committed to the state government that maximum power will be made available to the state grid to meet the present crisis,? said JSL chief resident manager Rajdeep Mohanty. ?We have increased supply from 50-mw to 65-mw by shutting down one of our furnaces to support the state during crisis.?
JSL, which has a captive generation capacity of 250 mw, is generating only 125-mw owing to a snag in the transformer. The company is negotiating with Nalco to avail itself of a spare transformer on rental to go for generation in full steam.
Other small captive plants have also augmented their generation to take advantage of new prices.
Meanwhile, the state government is seriously considering to review MoUs signed with steel, aluminium and ferro alloys companies who were keen to set up industries along with captive power plants. A high-level meeting is likely to be convened soon for the purpose.
As per the MoU conditions, companies are supposed to make their residual power available to the state grid on a priority basis. However, taking advantage of the Electricity Act 2003, they are not adhering to those conditions. Moreover, the conditions are not enforceable in the court of law. But the state government, which has provided land, water and mine linkages to the industries, may withdraw some of the facilities to force the companies to fall in line.