The Union Power Ministry said in a statement on Sunday that Power Minister RK Singh has “expressed displeasure” about the Delhi government “misleading the public with incorrect information” about the power situation in Delhi. “Panic was sought to be created by using wrong figures and this was reprehensible,” Singh said.
The thermal power plants supplying Delhi have sufficient reserve coal stocks for five to eight days, the Union Minister said.
Delhi Power Minister Satyendar Jain had written to the Center requesting the government to ensure adequate power supply to the city. The Delhi government had raised the alarm a few days ago about a shortage of coal at power plants and the possibility of power cuts leading to problems in the 24-hour supply of electricity for Metro trains and hospitals.
On Friday, Jain said some power plants have coal stock for only a day, pointing out that there is a major coal shortage across the country.
In the Union Minister’s response to Jain’s letter raising concerns about the coal stock position at power plants supplying electricity to Delhi, the “correct figure of stocks” has been stated, the Power Ministry statement said, adding that the figures in Jain’s letter were incorrect.
On April 29, the number of days of stock at 85% of the plant load factor (PLF) at the Dadri power plant was 8.43 days, while the stock at Unchahar was for 4.6 days, according to the data provided by the Ministry. The Delhi government has raised concerns about supply from the power plants at Dadri and Unchahar. The other plants that supply power to Delhi are the ones at Jhajjar (stock of 8.02 days on April 29), Farakka (8.38 days) and Kahalgaon (5.31 days).
In a statement issued on Saturday, the Power Ministry had said the availability of power to Delhi would be ensured. With the heat, power demand has been high, and parts of the country have been witnessing electricity shortages, with low coal stocks at some power plants.
Singh said on Sunday that stocks are replenished on a daily basis, and that the NTPC has been declaring 100% availability from the Dadri and Unchahar power stations. He added that “in October 2021, panic was sought to be created amongst the people about the disruption of power supply on the basis that gas supply to Delhi’s gas-based plant was likely to be disrupted which proved to be baseless.” In addition to thermal power plants outside the state, Delhi also uses power from gas-based power stations.
“Advance gas supply arrangements had not been made by the Delhi government and the power department of the Delhi Government is expected to monitor these things and take care that gas supplies and power supplies are paid for and contracts tied up in time,” he said, adding that this was not done earlier.
Delhi’s peak power demand was 5,970 MW on April 30 and there was no shortage in energy, according to the Power System Operation Corporation report.
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