The first unit of the Talwandi Sabo power plant becoming fully operational

The Punjab government has claimed that the State was all set to be free of power cuts with the first unit of the Talwandi Sabo power plant becoming fully operational by generating its full capacity of 660 MW.

Meanwhile, the public sector power company, also announced that it had tied up with various sources to meet the anticipated daily demand of 2200 lakh units in June and July this year.

According to a release issued by the office of the Deputy Chief Minister, Sukhbir Singh Badal, who also holds the Power portfolio, earlier the first unit of the 700 MW supercritical Rajpura thermal power plant, in Patiala district, had also become operational on trial basis. The third plant, run by GVK company at Goindwal in Khadoor Sahib, was expected to begin generation as the issue of supply of coal had been resolved.

Set up by the Vedanta group of industries, the TSPL power plant in Mansa district has three units of 660 MWs each. While the first unit was commissioned in November last year, the State government has claimed that this private sector facility would provide cheapest power for years to come. “This largest and green power plant in the State has added more than 12 million units of power yesterday,” the release added.

The Deputy CM has also passed instructions to all Chief Engineers in the State-owned power companies to ensure uninterrupted and quality power supply to all categories of consumers. The Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd has been asked to set up round the clock single dedicated helpline to redress the grievances of consumers.

The spokesperson said that on intervention by Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, the Union Ministry of Power had also acceded to Punjab's request by notifying Coal India Ltd to sign fuel supply agreements for the current and next fiscal. Earlier, the Union ministry had not included fuel linkage and signing of FSA for the Talwandi Sabo and Rajpura generation facilities.

The Akali Dal-BJP government which has been making headlines with promises to provide uninterrupted power supply is hopeful that this additional power production would prove to be a landmark achievement at this crucial stage especially in the wake of increasing demand during the predicted monsoon deficit summer and paddy season.

Meanwhile, the PSPCL has assured the State government it is fully geared to meet the requirements for the current season. It has already tied up for additional 1315 MW and 1350 MW for June and July, respectively from “all available sources”. Meanwhile, the State-owned thermal and hydel plants, were generating full capacity.