Losing power: Crisis in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana; bad coal caused shortage
Hyderabad: After suffering long hours of scheduled and unscheduled power cuts on a daily basis, comes the news that it was largely due to preventable technical failures.
The sudden power crisis that has erupted in the state is not just on account of reduced coal supply but also a strong pointer towards underlying threat of damage to crucial equipment due to low quality coal supply.
In fact, the Andhra Pradesh and Telangana regions have lost 1,873 MU of power generation on account of overhauls and breakdowns of power plants in the last two years alone.
Excess loss of power due to overhauls of plants was 860 MU, as per official figures.
If that was not the case, the power cuts could have been reduced by at least half in most parts of the state.
(Read: Two thermal power plants down, power crisis in Andhra and Telangana)
The primary reason as pointed out by the officials is the use of inferior quality coal and over-use of machinery leading to serious technical glitches.
Moreover, as most of the plants in the region are beyond their average lifespan, the Plant Load Factor (PLF) has decreased substantially, leading to under-utilisation.
In fact, the thermal power station maintained by the NTPC records 90 to 100 per cent Plant Load Factor generally against the PLF of APGenco (divided into APGenco and TGenco now) plants that revolves around 70 to 75 per cent.
“The low quality coal supply from Singareni has been the reason for repeated failures of several units of the VTPS. Over the last one year alone, the units have encountered 30 technical failures across its various units. The usage of low quality of coal is damaging to the units and this is the reason behind frequent failures,” said a senior official from APGenco.
Meanwhile as per the Central power ministry, the fair life of thermal power plants is 25 years.
Most plants in the state have been running for over 32 to 45 years. The overuse of the power plants has led to major breakdown, at times ranging for over a month-and-a-half at a stretch.
“Frequent breakdowns have affected the performance. Most thermal stations are running below their capacity. The loss of power generation due to overhauls alone is recorded at 860 mu in 2012 to 2014 and almost an equal amount was lost due to breakdowns. It is the impact of wrong policy decision of too much dependence on thermal power.” the official said.
