BHUBANESWAR: Even as the State is reeling under power crisis, breakdown of the first unit of OPGC’s Ib Thermal Power Plant on Wednesday forenoon pressed the panic button. However, much to the relief of the Government the unit was back to the State grid after a couple of hours. While OPGC sources claimed that the problem was with the State grid, the Orissa Power Transmission Corporation Limited, the bulk power transmission utility, said the transmission system is functioning quite normally. The frequent breakdown of the two units of Ib Thermal Power Stations in the recent past gave raise to doubts on the management of the power plant. Dismissing the allegation, OPGC authority said the Ib Thermal plant is performing well compared to others in the State. In fact, the thermal power plants, including the captive generating plants and independent power plants, are generating power below their capacity due to shortage of coal and supply of poor quality of thermal grade coal. Similar problem is also noticed in the two units of Sterlite Energy, a subsidiary of Vedanta Group. Sterlite has dedicated the first unit (600 MW capacity) of its Jharsuguda IPP to the State while the Government is negotiating with the company to supply at least 150 MW from the second unit having 600 MW capacity. While the power situation continues to be grim, Gridco is negotiating with the neighbouring West Bengal and a few northern states to procure their surplus power through power banking arrangement. However, nothing concrete has emerged so far, a Gridco officer said.
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