CHENNAI: Developments, including hitches in coal supply from Orissa and unavailability of affordable power in the open market, have reportedly forced the TANGEDCO to go in for unscheduled power cuts across the State to bridge the gap between demand and supply.According to official sources, flooding of Talcher coal mines in Orissa has cut coal supply to the Thoothukudi thermal power plant. This has seriously hit generation. Supply from the Ramagundam plant in AP too has gone down due to sub-optimal production there. Tamil Nadu is presently getting little of the entitled 300 MW.“Now, we understand that they are shutting down one more unit. This would further bring down generation there to less than 1,000 MW out of the full capacity of 2,600 MW. In such a situation, Tamil Nadu would receive nothing,” an official said. The share from the Central sector has also dropped by 750 MW.Another factor is the steep fall in production of wind energy. It has now come down to about 150 MW from 3,000 MW.“Wind energy is so erratic that we are unable to stick to scheduling. On Friday alone it oscillated between 120 and 1,200 units crashing despatch schedules,” an official said. To offset the shortfall, TANGEDCO has now increased power cuts to about 2½ hours in the State except Chennai. The supply to the farm sector has also been cut to 4 from 6 hours. Chennai too has been facing increased, unscheduled power cuts for a week, although officials denied it.The shutting down of certain NTPC units in other States due to coal shortage has increased the demand for power. The shortfall has now crossed 3,500 MW. This is about 1,000 MW more than the normal gap in demand and supply.
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