UP faces massive cuts despite ''reasonable'' power situation

Lucknow, June 8 (UNI) Despite the dipping power generation and power cuts being in rural areas as well as the big cities in Uttar Pradesh, the power situation in the state is officially being described as ''under control''.

''The worst is over as far as the power supply during summers is concerned,'' Avnish Awasthi, the Managing Director of UP Power Coporation Limited (UPPCL) told UNI here this morning.

There was a glitch yesterday when two thermal units of Panki power station of 110 MW each tripped. With 500 MW unit of Anpara thermal station already out of steam, the grid frequency has dipped to a vulnerable level. The emergency rostering in the cities like Varanasi, Ghaziabad, Meerut, Bareilly, Gorakhpur and Kanpur, however, saved the grid.

Mr Awasthi said one of the two Panki units restored generation this morning and wide rains in eastern parts of the state had brought down the demand substantially, easing the power scenario to a great extent today.

Claiming that the frequency of the grid was pegged at 49.7 this morning -- considered a safe proposition -- he said the demand which reached 7100 MW yestyerday came down considerably. The power cuts would now be curtailed, he added.

Promising sufficient import from the central sector, the UPPCL MD said there was gap of hardly seven million units between demand and supply, which was easily manageable.

He said as compared to earlier situation when the urban and rural areas were not getting power for more than 14 hours a day, the scenario had improved a lot.

The performance of the thermal units of UP was, however, not very encouraging with generation in the state hardly 2100 MW against the installed capacity of more than 4000 MW.

Uttar Pradesh, with mainly thermal power stations at its disposal, has an installed capacity of 4607 MW which includes 4092 MW of thermal and 515 MW of hydro power. Obra Thermal Power Station has 13 units with the total capacity of 1550 MW, Paricha has 220 MW.

Anpara 'A' station has a capacity of 630 MW while Anpara 'B' has 1000 MW of installed capacity. Simlarly, Harduaganj 'B' has installed capacity of 210 MW while Harduaganj'C' has 230 MW and Panki has combined capacity of 252 MW.

In Hydel, Obra hydro has installed capacity of 99 MW, Khari has 72 MW, Matatila 44 MW and Rihand has the capacity of 300 MW.

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