SRINAGAR: The Administrative Council (AC) approved the purchase of 500 MW of additional firm power from the Ministry of Power (MOP) in order to meet the UT’s base load power requirement.
The council met under the chairmanship of Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha, while Rajeev Rai Bhatnagar, Advisor to the Lieutenant Governor, Dr Arun Kumar Mehta, Chief Secretary and Dr Mandeep Kumar Bhandari, Principal Secretary to Lieutenant Governor were also present.
“The AC assents for allocation of an additional 500 MW of firm power from MOP in B(v) mode (procurement being done by PFC) to meet base Load power requirement essentially required to meet the winter demand,” reads the statement issued to the press.
The availability in winter reduces due to the high proportion of hydropower in the UT. In order to bridge this gap between demand and availability of power during winter months AC approved signing of fresh Power Purchase Agreement (PPA)by J&K Power Corporation Limited (JKPCL) with NTPC regarding run by NTPC, it said.
“This will subside the energy demand in which is increasing at a CAGR of 10%. Singrauli-II being an athermal power station is a must-run station, due to which its power supports J&K’s power requirement during winter when the generation from hydro generators of ISGS reduces to150-300 MW only i.e. a reduction of 70-90% of summer generation,” it adds.
As such, it will increase its availability by signing a new Power Purchase Agreement of JKPCL with NTPC regarding Singrauli-III which would help the UT in tiding over the power shortage faced by it during the lean winter season, reads the statement.
