At 15,379 MW, power demand crosses last year’s top figure

Though the paddy season is yet to begin fully in the state on June 20, the power demand has breached the last year’s maximum record of 15,325 megawatt (MW). Thursday saw the maximum power demand touching the 15,379-MW mark, the highest in this season so far. Out of this, the state’s own generation was around 6,200 MW and around 8,900 MW was drawn from the northern grid.

On Monday, a day before the start of the paddy transplantation in six districts, the maximum demand was 12,600 MW. The agricultural power load in the first phase of paddy transplantation is around 1,500 MW.

As per the Northern Regional Load Despatch Centre, the power supply in Punjab was 2,750 lakh units (LU) with maximum demand of 14,731 MW on Wednesday when the supply from the state-owned plants was 400 LU and from private Rajpura and Talwandi Sabo plants was 724 LU.

As for coal stock, the thermal plants in Ropar, Lehra Mohabbat and Goindwal have reserves for 11, 25 and 26 days, respectively. The private thermal plants in Rajpura and Talwandi Sabo have coal stock for 23 and 4 days, respectively.

The water level in hydro plants’ reservoirs is in a better position compared to the period last year. The Bhakra reservoir’s water level stands at 1,584 feet, which is 14 feet higher than last year’s level of 1,570 feet on the corresponding day. The water level at Ranjit Sagar is 506.7 metres, reflecting a decrease of over 4.7 metres from last year’s level of 511.4 metres.

In June last year, the PSPCL met a record maximum demand of 15,325 MW and supplied a record 3,435 lakh units on June 23. The maximum power demand of over 16,500 MW can be expected in the last week of June when the load is expected to peak due to paddy transplantation.

It is worth mentioning here that paddy transplantation in Muktsar, Faridkot, Bathinda, Mansa, Fazilka and Ferozepur districts has started on June 11 where the process in the remaining 17 districts will start on June 20.