Hyderabad: Fearing that power shortage in summer may alter its plans for 24x7 power supply, the government of Andhra Pradesh has decided to go for swapping arrangement with the consumers of gas in the western India.
The department of energy is monitoring the situation on a daily basis and felt that any complacency or overconfidence may mar its plans, well placed sources said.
The swapping deal is required as there is no pipeline facility to take gas from west to east. The Reliance Gas pipeline can transport gas from east to west, but there is no facility to get it from there. So, under the swapping arrangement, the imported gas which comes to the west coast can be used by consumers there and the gas generated in KG Basin will be used in AP.
However, this deal will have to be ratified by the Centre which takes the suggestion of a technical committee that has to approve that the gas imported (from Qatar or elsewhere) is of good quality.
“There is no truth in the argument that we may not face power shortage in future,” principal secretary of energy, Mr Ajay Jain, said. “Our effort is to ensure that there shall be 24x7 power supply. For this, we kept all options open. We are talking to NTPC to buy 600 MW of power and we also want to get power from Jhajhar unit in Haryana,” he said. AP’s greatest worry is that it may be thrown out of the priority list of NTPC which gives importance to long term agreements and big
users.
“There may be chances. I don’t say that we will not get importance. We don’t want to take risk” Jain said.
AP government fears that if the Krishnapatnam plant does not produce to the optimum level, if the demand suddenly goes up, if there are unexpected tripping in power units, it may go in for load shedding.
As things stand today, AP is in a comfortable position by meeting 125 MU per day. The generation levels are also satisfactory. But during peak summer i.e. from March to May, there will be a requirement of 145- 150 MU per day. Even that too can be met with the existing power generation and purchasing sources. But government appears to be in a safe zone and that’s the reason for contingency plans, according to Ajay Jain.
