To ensure adequate electricity supply in the country during the upcoming summer season, the Union Minister for Power and New and Renewable Energy R.K. Singh, has directed the revision of the planned maintenance schedule of various power plants, a PIB press release stated.
The Ministry of Power has planned to shift the maintenance of 1.7 GW of thermal power plants in April and 6 GW to 9 GW in June to the monsoon season. The decision has been taken keeping in mind the expected increase in electricity demand during the summer season due to higher temperatures across the country.
A meeting was held by the Union Power Minister with the help of senior officers of CEA, NTPC, Grid India, Gencos, PFC and NVVN to review the power capacity status of various thermal power plants. It was informed that the quantum of capacity under partial outages has come down and measures have been suggested to further reduce them.In a separate meeting, the Minister also reviewed the status of 5.2 GW of non-operational thermal capacity. It has been decided that efforts are to be made to schedule and shift the planned outages of thermal units to the monsoon season. The Ministry will also monitor the addition of capacity in coal, hydro, nuclear, solar and wind power.
The Minister has also directed that all thermal generating stations must offer their un-requised / surplus power in power exchanges. It has been directed that compliance needs to be monitored regularly and notices issued for violation of directions. The directions have been issued to all the state governments to ensure that the total energy demand is met and there is no problem of power shortage during the summer season.