The Union Government today reviewed the power situation in the country, with special focus on Uttar Pradesh, and told states to upgrade their infrastructure to ensure smooth supply of power during peak demand in summer.
The Power Ministry told the UP government to augment the intra-state transmission systems expeditiously. Similar instructions were given to states which have poor infrastructure.
The Ministry said since the prime reason for shortage of power supply was due to lack of the necessary transmission and distribution infrastructure within the states, it should be augmented during summer.
The Jammu and Kashmir government was also advised to undertake planned sub-transmission and distribution system within the state. Delhi, which reports power failures, asked the Centre to ensure smooth supply of gas to its combined cycle gas stations within Delhi for uninterrupted supply from Badarpur thermal power station.
The meeting was called on the observation of the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), which had noted that there might be a severe heat wave in Northern India this year. The meeting, chaired by the Union Power Secretary, Mr P.K. Pujari, was attended by the representatives from state governments, IMD, CEA, POSOCO, various regional and state load dispatch centres (RLDCs/SLDCs).
According to the Power Ministry, while the power demand in Northern Region would peak to the extent of 56 GW during April to September 2017 period, the Southern region would peak at 42 GW, peak power demand would reduce in Western region by 4 GW. All India peak demand during the summer is expected to be of the order of 165 GW, said a senior officer of the Power Ministry.
The ministry said there was enough power supply to meet state governments' demand, but the main constraint was the transmission and distribution network at the intra-state level. “The state utilities were advised to complete the transmission systems in the pipeline,” the Ministry said.