Friday, January 14, 2011

Industrial power cuts begin in Uttarakhand

With the demand for power sky rocketing to 28 million units to 29 million units per day during winters, the Uttarakhand Power Corporation Limited is finding it tough to meet the growing demand of power particularly from industries in the state.

The sources said that as of now, the UPCL has begun emergency rostering with industrial cuts of 2 to 3 hours on a daily basis, UPCL sources said. In rural areas, the power cut is more severe from 4 to 6 hours. Dehradun city has been left out of the power rostering.

The industrial production is getting hit due to the power cuts, said industrial sources.

After the good monsoon last year which saw power scenario improving in the state, Uttarakhand Jal Vidyut Nigam limited, the state run power generating company, is currently generating only 9 m to 10 m units of power as the water discharge in most of the rivers fell drastically during the past month. A government official said that "Due to snowfall and cold conditions, the water levels in most of the rivers in Uttarakhand are falling drastically reducing the power generation capacity of the UJVNL.”

Uttarakhand is facing 10 m units of power shortage and is resorting to banking arrangement and buying power from some private companies at higher rates. In addition to this, UPCL is also overdrawing nearly 3 m units of power from the national grid.

(Sourced from Business Standard)

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