Tuesday 15 March 2016

NTPC plant shutdown causes power shortage in East India

NTPC’s 2,100 MW Farakka plant in West Bengal comprises six units - three 200 MW units and three 500 MW units.

Eastern India faced a power shortage of around 1,500 MW on Monday after one of the largest power plants in the region, NTPC’s Farakka plant, had to be shut down due to lack of water, reports a business daily.

NTPC’s 2,100 MW Farakka plant in West Bengal comprises six units - three 200 MW units and three 500 MW units. 

Lack of water in the Farakka Fresh Water canal had forced NTPC to shut five units totaling 1,600 MW on Saturday, says the financial newspaper. However, as water levels dropped further, the sixth and final unit was also shut down late on Sunday, it adds.

While power supplies were adequate over the weekend, there was a shortage on Monday, officials at the Eastern Region Load Despatch Centre (ERLDC) have been quoted as saying.
ERLDC covers Jharkhand, Bihar, Odisha, West Bengal and Sikkim.

As at 7 pm on Monday, the electricity supplied was 15,981 MW. Typically, the electricity supplied at the peak hour in the region ranges between 17,500 and 18,000 MW.

“The situation is expected to continue till March 25 unless there is good-to-heavy rains. Due to the Indo-Bangladesh water sharing treaty, everyday 35,000 cubic feet per second of water is being released from Farakka to Bangladesh. This arrangement ends on March 25, after which there can be some relief,” an ERLDC official told the paper.

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