Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, May 11, 2015 :

There is some good news for the people of Odisha as there would be no power cut in the evening.

The state government on Monday ruled out possibility of load shedding or power cuts during peak hours in the evening this summer.

Energy secretary, Suresh Chandra Mohapatra said, “As we had good rainfall last year and there is good amount of water in all the reservoirs, the situation is comfortable and there is no possibility of power cuts in evening this summer. We can easily meet our power requirement from both the hydro and thermal sectors.”

Hoping a good rainfall this year too, Mohapatra added that reservoirs can be managed till July 30 for electricity generation. He however, cautioned of a bumpy road ahead if there would not good rainfall by July 30 then problems.

The Energy secretary, however, hinted at power cut during day time in certain areas for equal distribution of electricity to new and commercial consumers.

Gridco, the state’s bulk power supplier is in a position to meet power demand up to 4,000 MW as against current peak demand of 3,850 MW, sources in the bulk power trading utility said.

While the average availability from the state’s hydro power stations is 600 MW it has the advantage to draw peaking power of about 1,400 MW during the evening peak when the demand goes up to 3,900 MW and added that the average power demand of the state is about 3,200 MW.

While Sesa Sterlite’s Jharsuguda thermal power plant is supplying more than 500 MW, the GMR Energy’s Kamalanga plant in Dhenkanal district is contributing about 200 MW.

Similarly, the NTPC-owned Talcher Thermal Power Stations (TTPS) and the state-run Ib Thermal Power Station are generating more than 800 MW as against their combined installed capacity of 880 MW.

The state has also been drawing power from the central pool. The state’s share from the Central pool is about 1,000 MW.

Besides, Gridco is purchasing about 200 MW from other independent power projects (IPPs) and captive generating plants (CGPs) operating within the state, the sources said.