Power crisis deepens as 3 units trip due to fog
Manish Sirhindi/TNS

Panipat, January 5
The power crisis gripping the state aggravated further as three units of the Panipat thermal power plant tripped early this morning due to foggy weather conditions. According to sources in the power utilities, the transmission lines connecting the thermal station with the grid tripped, which further led to the tripping of units numbered 6 (210 MW), 7 and 8 (250 MW each) at 6.45 am.

The sources said the transmission load crashed from 3,345 MW to 2,375 MW. Unit number 3 of the thermal plant had also tripped due to some technical snag while unit number 2 was reportedly down for the past 10 days.

Following the tripping, the generation dropped from 1,900 MW to 1,140 MW and cities, including Gurgaon, Faridabad, Rohtak Panipat and Karnal, faced long power cuts. The thermal units were revived one by one at an interval of 15 minutes after 9 am.

Meanwhile, the sources said that the 600 MW Khedar unit 1 was under maintenance since December 1 as it had developed a leakage in the boiler and was also facing some other technical problems. The unit was scheduled to be revived on December 15 but till date, it has not started generation.

The 300 MW thermal unit number 2 at Yamunanagar thermal power plant is down since September 25, last year, due to high turbine vibrations and entry of water in the turbine. The damage to turbine bearings and rotor of the turbine could not be attended to locally and the rotor had been sent to China for repair, the sources said.

The state was facing cuts ranging from six to eight hours daily and unscheduled power cuts were adding to the misery of the people in these cold, winter days. The state has been recording a shortage of 170 lakh units daily, while power availability was of 865 lakh units. The maximum shortage during peak hours varied between 1,450 to 1,650 MW, the sources said.

The shortage has already taken its toll on the state industry which is reeling under heavy cuts and the use of diesel generators had increased the cost of production by around 30 per cent, which has reduced the profit margins of the manufacturers.